SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is unique payment area in EUR where all the participants in payment operations can send and receive payments in EUR under equal conditions, rights and obligations, independent of their location. Participants in SEPA area are all the countries-members of the European Union plus Island, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Monaco and San Marino.
SEPA Advantages
- unique format of payment order for all the participating countries – members of SEPA area
- unique format of direct debit request
- shorter execution time - next working day at the latest
- receipt of full amount of payment order without costs for the receiver (cost option SHA)
Deadlines
With the accession to the European Union, migration to SEPA payment scheme became obligatory for the Republic of Croatia based on the EU Directive no. 260/2012. The EU regulations also apply to the member countries which do not have EUR as their official currency.
NEW: Implementation of SEPA payment scheme in the Republic of Croatia has been prolonged and is now defined by the following deadlines:
6 June 2016 for:
- national payments in HRK and EUR
- cross-border payments in EUR
1 February 2016 for:
Changes for the participants
SEPA project influences on all the participants in the payment operations system: companies, banks and FINA (payment system provider) and requires their active participation in the project, primarily in adaptation of their IT support for SEPA messages.
Basic adaptations:
- change of payment order format (XML format)
- support for initiation of direct debit requests (XML format)
- receipt and processing of rejected payment orders and their return (R messages in XML format)
- receipt and processing of account statements (XML format).
Information
All the information regarding SEPA project are available on the Internet page:
www.sepa.hr. The eventual questions please send to e-mail address:
sepa@jtbanka.hr or contact your relationship manager.
