The Ministry of Finance with the Polish banking sector, works on the Polish participation in the pan-European project to build an internal market for payments in euro (SEPA) - which apply uniform principles for cross-border and national payments in euro.
The SEPA project (Single European Payment Area) pertain the construction of the internal market for payments in euro, in the field of standardization (unification) payment schemes for credit transfers and direct debits in euro.
SEPA Regulation260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euros and amending Regulation 924/2009hasentered into force on the 31st of March 2012. SEPA regulation is the next stage of the creation of internal market for payments in euro). SEPA is the market where the uniform rules apply to national and cross-border credit transfers and direct debits in euro. Such approach leads to significant cost savings and other benefits for theEuropean economy (including harmonization of national payment schemes in the EEA countries).
The ultimate aim of this regulation is that at the end of the transitional periods the national schemes for credit transfers and direct debits in euro will be unified and the transactions will be carried out on the basis of one EU-wide schemes (SEPA schemes). An important objective of this regulation is providing equal charges for credit transfers and direct debits (for ex. it is not allowed to differentiate the cost of cross-border and national credit transfers and direct debits in euro).
Regulation does not include card transactions, since the common UE standards for cards are still in progress.