EUROPEAN

COMMISSION

Brussels, 27.11.2017
C(2017) 7782 final

COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) No …/..

of XXX

supplementing Directive 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council with
regard to regulatory technical standards for strong customer authentication and
common and secure open standards of communication

(Text with EEA relevance)

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 EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. CONTEXT OF THE DELEGATED ACT

Article 98(4) of Directive (EU) No 2015/2366 empowers the Commission to adopt, following
submission of draft standards by the European Banking Authority (EBA), and in accordance
with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation No (EU) 1093/2010, delegated acts specifying the
requirements of the strong customer authentication, the exemptions from its application and
common and secure open standards of communication.
In accordance with Article 10(1) of Regulation No (EU) 1093/2010 establishing the EBA, the
Commission shall decide within three months of receipt of the draft standards whether to
endorse the drafts submitted. The Commission may also endorse the draft standards in part
only, or with amendments, where the Union's interests so require, having regard to the
specific procedure laid down in those Articles.

2. CONSULTATIONS PRIOR TO THE ADOPTION OF THE ACT

In accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 10(1) of Regulation No (EU) 1093/2010,
the EBA has carried out a public consultation on the draft technical standards submitted to the
Commission in accordance with Article 98(4) of Directive (EU) No 2015/2366. A
consultation paper was published on the EBA internet site on 12 August 2016, and the
consultation closed on 12 October 2016. Moreover, the EBA invited the EBA’s Banking
Stakeholder Group set up in accordance with Article 37 of Regulation No (EU) 1093/2010 to
provide advice on them. Together with the draft technical standards, the EBA has submitted
an explanation on how the outcome of these consultations has been taken into account in the
development of the final draft technical standards submitted to the Commission.
Together with the draft technical standards, and in accordance with the third subparagraph of
Article 10(1) of Regulation No (EU) 1093/2010, the EBA has submitted its Impact
Assessment, including its analysis of the costs and benefits, related to the draft technical
standards submitted to the Commission. This analysis is available at
https://www.eba.europa.eu/documents/10180/1761863/Final+draft+RTS+on+SCA+and+CSC
+under+PSD2+%28EBA-RTS-2017-02%29.pdf, pages 40-44 of the Final Draft Regulatory
Technical Standards package.

3. LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE DELEGATED ACT

These Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specify the requirements, under Article 98 of
Directive (EU) No 2015/2366 (PSD2), of the strong customer authentication (SCA), the
exemptions from the application of SCA, the requirements with which security measures have
to comply in order to protect the confidentiality and the integrity of the payment service users’
personalised security credentials, and the requirements for common and secure open standards
of communication (CSC) between account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs),
payment initiation service providers (PISPs), account information service providers (AISPs),
payers, payees and other payment service providers (PSPs).
These RTS take into account the various objectives of PSD2, including enhancing security,
promoting competition, ensuring technology and business-model neutrality, contributing to
the integration of payments in the EU, protecting consumers, facilitating innovation and
enhancing customer convenience.
The RTS are technology and business-model neutral. The RTS contain a number of
exemptions, including two exemptions for remote payments, one on transaction-risk analysis

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 and the other on low value payments (below EUR 30). It also contains exemptions for
proximity payments. Considering the fact that the exemption based on transaction risk
analysis is based on the observance of pre-set reference fraud rates, it is appropriate that the
adequacy of the fraud level monitoring mechanism(s) of the payment service provider is
scrutinized by a statutory auditor to ensure an impartial assessment of the correctness of the
data. The actually achieved fraud levels should not only be reported to the competent
authorities, for the purpose of ensuring an effective enforcement of the exemptions; they
should also be reported directly to EBA enabling it to conduct a review of the reference fraud
rates in the RTS within 18 months after the RTS enters into force.
The Commission has added a further exemption from strong customer authentication in
relation to EBA´s proposal, covering electronic payment transactions that are performed
through dedicated payment processes or protocols typically used by corporates and where
security is achieved through other means than the authentication of a particular individual.
This exemption is subject to competent authorities being satisfied that such payment methods
achievethe high level of security of payments aimed for by PSD2.
Due to their very nature, payments made through the use of an anonymous payment
instruments are not subject to the obligation of strong customer authentication. It goes without
saying that where the anonymity of such instruments is lifted on contractual or legislative
grounds, payments are subject to the security requirements that follow from PSD2 and this
Regulatory Technical Standard.
The RTS also establish requirements on the communication between ASPSPs, AISPs and
PISPs, among which the obligation for the ASPSPs to offer at least one interface for AISPs
and PISPs for access to payment account information. With regard to the communication
between ASPSPs, AISPs and PISPs, accordingly, the existing practice of third-party access
without identification referred to in market jargon as ‘screen scraping’ or, mistakenly, as
‘direct access’ will no longer be allowed once the transition period under Article 115(4) PSD2
has elapsed and the RTS apply. However, the RTS establish requirements for ASPSPs to
develop and maintain a communication interface to allow PISPs, AISPs and payment service
providers issuing card-based payment instruments to access the data they need in compliance
with PSD2. The RTS only apply to payment accounts, in accordance with the scope of PSD2.
The RTS thus does not cover the access to accounts other than payment accounts, which falls
under the competence of the Member States.
Where the ASPSP decides to use a dedicated interface, the RTS mandates that it shall define
transparent key performance indicators and service level targets for the interface. These must
be at least as stringent as those set for the interface used by the ASPSP's payment service
users. In addition, it shall publish the data on a quarterly basis.
In order to guarantee that an unavailability or inadequate performance of the dedicated
interface does not prevent payment initiation services and account information services
providers from offering their services to the users, while at the same time the user-facing
interfaces operate without any difficulties and allow the ASPSP to offer its own payment
services, the Commission amended EBA's draft RTS to introduce a contingency measure in
the form of a fall-back mechanism which consists in opening the user-facing interfaces as a
secure communication channel for payment initiation services and account information
services providers. The relevant provisions of PSD2 (Articles 65-67) apply for payment
initiation services and account information services providers, including identification and
authentication procedures, when using this contingency measure. Its use must be fully
documented and reported to the authorities by the relevant providers, upon request.

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 EBA rejected in its opinion on the Commission amendments this fall-back mechanism on two
main arguments: the first one related to the cost of the fall-back mechanism which would have
to be borne by ASPSPs in addition to the cost of a well-functioning dedicated interfaces;
secondly, EBA expressed concern that the requirement for a fall-back mechanism would
weaken incentives to develop standardised dedicated interfaces, as the fall-back mechanism
alone would already be sufficient for ASPSPs to comply with the requirements of PSD2.
In the light of EBA's opinion, the Commission reviewed its amendments to the RTS,
maintaining the fall-back mechanism as a general principle, but empowering national
competent authorities to exempt banks from having to provide it when strict conditions are
met, ensuring that the dedicated interfaces genuinely open the market for payment services.
Thus, dedicated interfaces shall be tested by the payment service providers who will use them,
and they will be stress-tested and monitored by competent authorities. In the event that those
dedicated interfaces do not succeed in the testing phases or fail the stress test, payment service
providers will be able to use the contingency mechanism mandated under the RTS.
For cases where a dedicated interface has been exempted from the contingency mechanism
based on the customer interface but no longer meets the requirements for such an exemption,
or cases where an ASPSP fails to offer any interface that complies with the requirements of
PSD2 and the RTS, the Commission has introduced a provision to ensure business continuity
in the payments market. In such a situation, competent authorities shall guarantee that PISPs
and AISPs are not blocked or obstructed in the provision of their services.

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 COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) No …/..

of XXX

supplementing Directive 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council with
regard to regulatory technical standards for strong customer authentication and
common and secure open standards of communication

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives
2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and
repealing Directive 2007/64/EC, and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 98(4)
thereof1,
Whereas:
(1) Payment services offered electronically should be carried out in a secure manner,
adopting technologies able to guarantee the safe authentication of the user and to
reduce, to the maximum extent possible, the risk of fraud. The authentication
procedure should include, in general, transaction monitoring mechanisms to detect
attempts to use a payment service user’s personalised security credentials that were
lost, stolen, or misappropriated and should also ensure that the payment service user is
the legitimate user and therefore is giving consent for the transfer of funds and access
to its account information through a normal use of the personalised security
credentials. Furthermore, it is necessary to specify the requirements of the strong
customer authentication that should be applied each time a payer accesses its payment
account online, initiates an electronic payment transaction or carries out any action
through a remote channel which may imply a risk of payment fraud or other abuse, by
requiring the generation of an authentication code which should be resistant against the
risk of being forged in its entirety or by disclosure of any of the elements upon which
the code was generated.
(2) As fraud methods are constantly changing, the requirements of strong customer
authentication should allow for innovation in the technical solutions addressing the
emergence of new threats to the security of electronic payments. To ensure that the
requirements to be laid down are effectively implemented on a continuous basis, it is
also appropriate to require that the security measures for the application of strong
customer authentication and its exemptions, the measures to protect confidentiality
and integrity of the personalised security credentials, and the measures establishing
common and secure open standards of communication are documented, periodically
tested, evaluated and audited by auditors with expertise in IT security and payments
and operationally independent. In order to allow competent authorities to monitor the
1
OJ L 337, 23.12.2015 p. 35.

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 quality of the review of these measures, such reviews should be made available to
them upon their request.
(3) As electronic remote payment transactions are subject to a higher risk of fraud, it is
necessary to introduce additional requirements for the strong customer authentication
of such transactions, ensuring that the elements dynamically link the transaction to an
amount and a payee specified by the payer when initiating the transaction.
(4) Dynamic linking is possible through the generation of authentication codes which is
subject to a set of strict security requirements. To remain technologically neutral a
specific technology for the implementation of authentication codes should not be
required. Therefore authentication codes should be based on solutions such as
generating and validating one-time passwords, digital signatures or other
cryptographically underpinned validity assertions using keys or cryptographic material
stored in the authentication elements, as long as the security requirements are fulfilled.
(5) It is necessary to lay down specific requirements for the situation where the final
amount is not known at the moment the payer initiates an electronic remote payment
transaction, in order to ensure that the strong customer authentication is specific to the
maximum amount that the payer has given consent for as referred to in Directive (EU)
2015/2366.
(6) In order to ensure the application of strong customer authentication, it is also
necessary to require adequate security features for the elements of strong customer
authentication categorised as knowledge (something only the user knows), such as
length or complexity, for the elements categorised as possession (something only the
user possesses), such as algorithm specifications, key length and information entropy,
and for the devices and software that read elements categorized as inherence
(something the user is) such as algorithm specifications, biometric sensor and template
protection features, in particular to mitigate the risk that those elements are uncovered,
disclosed to and used by unauthorised parties. It is also necessary to lay down the
requirements to ensure that those elements are independent, so that the breach of one
does not compromise the reliability of the others, in particular when any of these
elements are used through a multi-purpose device,namely a device such as a tablet or a
mobile phone which can be used both for giving the instruction to make the payment
and in the authentication process.
(7) The requirements of strong customer authentication apply to payments initiated by the
payer, regardless of whether the payer is a natural person or a legal entity.
(8) Due to their very nature, payments made through the use of an anonymous payment
instruments are not subject to the obligation of strong customer authentication. Where
the anonymity of such instruments is lifted on contractual or legislative grounds,
payments are subject to the security requirements that follow from Directive (EU)
2015/2366 and this Regulatory Technical Standard.
(9) In accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366, exemptions to the principle of strong
customer authentication have been defined based on the level of risk, amount,
recurrence and the payment channel used for the execution of the payment transaction.
(10) Actions which imply access to the balance and the recent transactions of a payment
account without disclosure of sensitive payment data, recurring payments to the same
payees which have been previously set up or confirmed by the payer through the use
of strong customer authentication, and payments to and from the same natural or legal
person with accounts with the same payment service provider, pose a low level of risk,

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 thus allowing payment service providers not to apply strong customer authentication.
This leaves aside that in accordance with Articles 65, 66 and 67 Directive (EU)
2015/2366, payment initiation service providers, payment service providers issuing
card-based payment instruments and account information service providers should
only seek and obtain the necessary and essential information from the account
servicing payment service provider for the provision of a given payment service with
the consent of the payment service user. Such consent can be given individually for
each request of information or for each payment to be initiated or, for account
information service providers, as a mandate for designated payment accounts and
associated payment transactions as established in the contractual agreement with the
payment service user.
(11) Exemptions for low-value contactless payments at points of sale, which also take into
account a maximum number of consecutive transactions or a certain fixed maximum
value of consecutive transactions without applying strong customer authentication,
allow for the development of user friendly and low risk payment services and should
therefore be provided for. It is also appropriate to establish an exemption for the case
of electronic payment transactions initiated at unattended terminals where the use of
strong customer authentication may not always be easy to apply due to operational
reasons (e.g. to avoid queues and potential accidents at toll gates or for other safety or
security risks).
(12) Similar to the exemption for low value contactless payments at the point of sale, a
proper balance needs to be struck between the interest in enhanced security in remote
payments and the needs of user-friendliness and accessibility of payments in the area
of e-commerce. In line with those principles, thresholds below which no strong
customer authentication needs to be applied should be set in a prudent manner, to
cover only online purchases of low value. The thresholds for online purchases should
be set more prudently, considering that the fact that the person is not physically
present when making the purchase is posing a slightly higher security risk.
(13) The requirements of strong customer authentication apply to payments initiated by the
payer, regardless of whether the payer is a natural person or a legal entity. Many
corporate payments are initiated through dedicated processes or protocols which
guarantee the high levels of payment security that Directive (EU) 2015/2366 aims to
achieve through strong customer authentication. Where the competent authorities
establish that those payment processes and protocols that are only made available to
payers who are not consumers achieve the objectives of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 in
terms of security, payment service providers may, in relation to those processes or
protocols, be exempted from the strong customer authentication requirements.
(14) In the case of real-time transaction risk analysis that categorise a payment transaction
as low risk, it is also appropriate to introduce an exemption for the payment service
provider that intends not to apply strong customer authentication through the adoption
of effective and risk-based requirements which ensure the safety of the payment
service user’s funds and personal data. Those risk-based requirements should combine
the scores of the risk analysis, confirming that no abnormal spending or behavioural
pattern of the payer has been identified, taking into account other risk factors including
information on the location of the payer and of the payee with monetary thresholds
based on fraud rates calculated for remote payments. Where, on the basis of the real-
time transaction risk analysis, a payment cannot be qualified as posing a low level of
risk, the payment service provider should revert to strong customer authentication. The
maximum value of such risk based exemption should be set in a manner ensuring a

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 very low corresponding fraud rate, also by comparison to the fraud rates of all the
payment transactions of the payment service provider, including those authenticated
through strong customer authentication, within a certain period of time and on a
rolling basis.
(15) For the purpose of ensuring an effective enforcement, payment service providers, that
wish to benefit from the exemptions from strong customer authentication should
regularly monitor and make available to competent authorities and to the European
Banking Authority (EBA), upon their request, for each payment transaction type, the
value of fraudulent or unauthorised payment transactions and the observed fraud rates
for all their payment transactions, whether authenticated through strong customer
authentication or executed under a relevant exemption.
(16) The collection of this new historical evidence on the fraud rates of electronic payment
transactions will also contribute to an effective review by the EBA of the thresholds
for an exemption to strong customer authentication based on a real-time transaction
risk analysis. The EBA should review and submit draft updates to the Commission of
these regulatory technical standards, where appropriate, by submitting new draft
thresholds and corresponding fraud rates with the aim of enhancing the security of
remote electronic payments, in accordance with Article 98(5) of Directive (EU)
2015/2366 and with Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European
Parliament and of the Council2.
(17) Payment service providers that make use of any of the exemptions to be provided for
should be allowed at any time to choose to apply strong customer authentication to the
actions and to the payment transactions referred to in those provisions.
(18) The measures that protect the confidentiality and integrity of personalised security
credentials, as well as authentication devices and software, should limit the risks
relating to fraud through unauthorised or fraudulent use of payment instruments and
unauthorised access to payment accounts. To this end it is necessary to introduce
requirements on the secure creation and delivery of the personalised security
credentials and their association with the payment service user, and to provide
conditions for the renewal and deactivation of those credentials.
(19) In order to ensure effective and secure communication between the relevant actors in
the context of account information services, payment initiation services and
confirmation on the availabilty of funds, it is necessary to specify the requirements of
common and secure open standards of communication to be met by all relevant
payment service providers. Directive (EU) 2015/2366 provides for the access and use
of payment account information by account information service providers. This
regulation therefore does not change the rules of access to accounts other than
payment accounts.
(20) Each account servicing payment service provider with payment accounts that are
accessible online should offer at least one access interface enabling secure
communication with account information service providers, payment initiation service
providers and payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments. The
interface should enable the account information service providers, payment initiation

2
Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010
establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority), amending Decision No
716/2009/EC and repealing Commission Decision 2009/78/EC (OJ L 331, 15.12.2010, p. 12).

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 service providers and payment service providers issuing card-based payment
instruments to identify themselves to the account servicing payment service provider.
It should also allow account information service providers and payment initiation
service providers to rely on the authentication procedures provided by the account
servicing payment service provider to the payment service user. To ensure technology
and business-model neutrality, the account servicing payment service providers should
be free to decide whether to offer an interface that is dedicated to the communication
with account information service providers, payment initiation service providers, and
payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments, or to allow, for
that communication, the use of the interface for the identification and communication
with the account servicing payment service providers’ payment service users.
(21) In order to allow account information service providers, payment initiation service
providers, and payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments to
develop their technical solutions, the technical specification of the interface should be
adequately documented and made publicly available. Moreover, the account servicing
payment service provider should offer a facility enabling the payment service
providers to test the technical solutions at least six months prior to the application date
of these regulatory standards or, if the launch takes place after the application date of
these standards, prior to the date on which the interface will be launched to the market.
To ensure the interoperability of different technological communication solutions, the
interface should use standards of communication which are developed by international
or European standardisation organisations.
(22) The quality of the services provided by account information service providers and
payment initiation service providers will be dependent on the proper functioning of the
interfaces put in place or adapted by account servicing payment service providers. It is
therefore important that in case of non-compliance of such interfaces with the
provisions included in these standards, measures are taken to guarantee business
continuity for the benefit of the users of those services. It is the responsibility of
national competent authorities to ensure that account information service providers
and payment intitation service providers are not blocked or obstructed in the provision
of their services.
(23) Where access to payment accounts is offered by means of a dedicated interface, in
order to ensure the right of payment service users to make use of payment initiation
service providers and of services enabling access to account information, as provided
for in Directive (EU) 2015/2366, it is necessary to require that dedicated interfaces
have the same level of availability and performance as the interface available to the
payment service user. Account servicing payment service providers should also define
transparent key performance indicators and service level targets for the availability and
performance of dedicated interfaces that are at least as stringent as those for the
interface used for their payment service users. Those interfaces should be tested by the
payment service providers who will use them, and should be stress-tested and
monitored by competent authorities.
(24) To ensure that payment service providers who rely on the dedicated interface can
continue to provide their services in case of problems of availability or inadequate
performance, it is necessary to provide, subject to strict conditions, a fallback
mechanism that will allow such providers to use the interface that the account
servicing payment service provider maintains for the identification of, and
communication with, its own payment service users. Certain account servicing
payment service providers will be exempted from having to provide such a fallback

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 mechanism through their customer facing interfaces where their competent authorities
establish that the dedicated interfaces comply with specific conditions that ensure
unhampered competition. In the event that the exempted dedicated interfaces fail to
comply with the required conditions, the granted exemptions shall be revoked by the
relevant competent authorities.
(25) In order to allow competent authorities to effectively supervise and monitor the
implementation and management of the communication interfaces, the account
servicing payment service providers should make a summary of the relevant
documentation available on their website, and provide, upon request, the competent
authorities with documentation of the solutions in case of emergencies. The account
servicing payment service providers should also make publicly available the statistics
on the availability and performance of that interface.
(26) In order to safeguard the confidentiality and the integrity of data, it is necessary to
ensure the security of communication sessions between account servicing payment
service providers, account information service providers, payment initiation service
providers and payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments. It is
in particular necessary to require that secure encryption is applied between account
information service providers, payment initiation service providers, payment service
providers issuing card-based payment instruments and account servicing payment
service providers when exchanging data.
(27) To improve user confidence and ensure strong customer authentication, the use of
electronic identification means and trust services as set out in Regulation (EU) No
910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council3 should be taken into
account, in particular with regard to notified electronic identification schemes
(28) In order to ensure aligned application dates, this Regulation should be applicable from
the same date as of which Member States have to ensure application of the security
measures referred to in Articles 65, 66, 67 and 97 of Directive 2015/2366.
(29) This Regulation is based on the draft regulatory technical standards submitted by the
European Banking Authority (EBA) to the Commission.
(30) EBA has conducted open and transparent public consultations on the draft regulatory
technical standards on which this Regulation is based, analysed the potential related
costs and benefits and requested the opinion of the Banking Stakeholder Group
established in accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.

3
Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on
electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and
repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 53).

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 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1
Subject matter
This Regulation establishes the requirements to be complied with by payment service
providers for the purpose of implementing security measures which enable them to do the
following:
(a) apply the procedure of strong customer authentication in accordance with
Article 97 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366;
(b) exempt the application of the security requirements of strong customer
authentication, subject to specified and limited conditions based on the level of
risk, the amount and the recurrence of the payment transaction and of the
payment channel used for its execution;
(c) protect the confidentiality and the integrity of the payment service user’s
personalised security credentials;
(d) establish common and secure open standards for the communication between
account servicing payment service providers, payment initiation service
providers, account information service providers, payers, payees and other
payment service providers in relation to the provision and use of payment
services in application of Title IV of Directive (EU) 2015/2366.

Article 2
General authentication requirements
1. Payment service providers shall have transaction monitoring mechanisms in place
that enable them to detect unauthorised or fraudulent payment transactions for the
purpose of the implementation of the security measures referred to in points (a) and
(b) of Article 1.
Those mechanisms shall be based on the analysis of payment transactions taking into
account elements which are typical of the payment service user in the circumstances
of a normal use of the personalised security credentials.
2. Payment service providers shall ensure that the transaction monitoring mechanisms
take into account, at a minimum, each of the following risk-based factors:
(a) lists of compromised or stolen authentication elements;
(b) the amount of each payment transaction;
(c) known fraud scenarios in the provision of payment services;
(d) signs of malware infection in any sessions of the authentication procedure;
(e) in case the access device or the software is provided by the payment service
provider, a log of the use of the access device or the software provided to the
payment service user and the abnormal use of the access device or the
software.

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 Article 3
Review of the security measures
1. The implementation of the security measures referred to in Article 1 shall be
documented, periodically tested, evaluated and audited in accordance with the
applicable legal framework of the payment service provider by auditors with
expertise in IT security and payments and operationally independent within or from
the payment service provider.
2. The period between the audits referred to in paragraph 1 shall be determined taking
into account the relevant accounting and statutory audit framework applicable to the
payment service provider.
However, payment service providers that make use of the exemption referred to in
Article 18 shall be subject to an audit of the methodology, the model and the reported
fraud rates at a minimum on a yearly basis. The auditor performing this audit shall
have expertise in IT security and payments and be operationally independent within
or from the payment service provider. During the first year of making use of the
exemption under Article 18 and at least every three years thereafter, or more
frequently at the competent authority’s request, this audit shall be carried out by an
independent and qualified external auditor.
3. This audit shall present an evaluation and report on the compliance of the payment
service provider’s security measures with the requirements set out in this Regulation.
The entire report shall be made available to competent authorities upon their request.

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 CHAPTER II
SECURITY MEASURES FOR THE APPLICATION OF
STRONG CUSTOMER AUTHENTICATION

Article 4
Authentication code
1. Where payment service providers apply strong customer authentication in
accordance with Article 97(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, the authentication shall
be based on two or more elements which are categorised as knowledge, possession
and inherence and shall result in the generation of an authentication code.
The authentication code shall be only accepted once by the payment service provider
when the payer uses the authentication code to access its payment account online, to
initiate an electronic payment transaction or to carry out any action through a remote
channel which may imply a risk of payment fraud or other abuses.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall adopt security
measures ensuring that each of the following requirements is met:
(a) no information on any of the elements referred to in paragraph 1 can be derived
from the disclosure of the authentication code;
(b) it is not possible to generate a new authentication code based on the knowledge
of any other authentication code previously generated;
(c) the authentication code cannot be forged.
3. Payment service providers shall ensure that the authentication by means of
generating an authentication code includes each of the following measures:
(a) where the authentication for remote access, remote electronic payments and
any other actions through a remote channel which may imply a risk of payment
fraud or other abuses has failed to generate an authentication code for the
purposes of paragraph 1, it shall not be possible to identify which of the
elements referred to in that paragraph was incorrect;
(b) the number of failed authentication attempts that can take place consecutively,
after which the actions referred to in Article 97(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366
shall be temporarily or permanently blocked, shall not exceed five within a
given period of time;
(c) the communication sessions are protected against the capture of authentication
data transmitted during the authentication and against manipulation by
unauthorised parties in accordance with the requirements in Chapter V;
(d) the maximum time without activity by the payer after being authenticated for
accessing its payment account online shall not exceed five minutes.
4. Where the block referred to in paragraph 3(b) is temporary, the duration of that block
and the number of retries shall be established based on the characteristics of the
service provided to the payer and all the relevant risks involved, taking into account,
at a minimum, the factors referred to in Article 2(2).
The payer shall be alerted before the block is made permanent.

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 Where the block has been made permanent, a secure procedure shall be established
allowing the payer to regain use of the blocked electronic payment instruments.

Article 5
Dynamic linking
1. Where payment service providers apply strong customer authentication in
accordance with Article 97(2) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, in addition to the
requirements of Article 4 of this Regulation, they shall also adopt security measures
that meet each of the following requirements:
(a) the payer is made aware of the amount of the payment transaction and of the
payee;
(b) the authentication code generated is specific to the amount of the payment
transaction and the payee agreed to by the payer when initiating the
transaction;
(c) the authentication code accepted by the payment service provider corresponds
to the original specific amount of the payment transaction and to the identity of
the payee agreed to by the payer;
(d) any change to the amount or the payee results in the invalidation of the
authentication code generated.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall adopt security
measures which ensure the confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of each of the
following:
(a) the amount of the transaction and the payee throughout all of the phases of the
authentication;
(b) the information displayed to the payer throughout all of the phases of the
authentication including the generation, transmission and use of the
authentication code.
3. For the purpose of paragraph 1(b) and where payment service providers apply strong
customer authentication in accordance with Article 97(2) of Directive (EU)
2015/2366 the following requirements for the authentication code shall apply:
(a) in relation to a card-based payment transaction for which the payer has given
consent to the exact amount of the funds to be blocked pursuant to Article
75(1) of that Directive, the authentication code shall be specific to the amount
that the payer has given consent to be blocked and agreed to by the payer when
initiating the transaction;
(b) in relation to payment transactions for which the payer has given consent to
execute a batch of remote electronic payment transactions to one or several
payees, the authentication code shall be specific to the total amount of the
batch of payment transactions and to the specified payees.

Article 6
Requirements of the elements categorised as knowledge
1. Payment service providers shall adopt measures to mitigate the risk that the elements
of strong customer authentication categorised as knowledge are uncovered by, or
disclosed to, unauthorised parties.

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 2. The use by the payer of those elements shall be subject to mitigation measures in
order to prevent their disclosure to unauthorised parties.

Article 7
Requirements of the elements categorised as possession
1. Payment service providers shall adopt measures to mitigate the risk that the elements
of strong customer authentication categorised as possession are used by unauthorised
parties.
2. The use by the payer of those elements shall be subject to measures designed to
prevent replication of the elements.

Article 8
Requirements of devices and software linked to elements
categorised as inherence
1. Payment service providers shall adopt measures to mitigate the risk that the
authentication elements categorised as inherence and read by access devices and
software provided to the payer are uncovered by unauthorised parties. At a
minimum, the payment service providers shall ensure that those access devices and
software have a very low probability of an unauthorised party being authenticated as
the payer.
2. The use by the payer of those elements shall be subject to measures ensuring that
those devices and the software guarantee resistance against unauthorised use of the
elements through access to the devices and the software.

Article 9
Independence of the elements
1. Payment service providers shall ensure that the use of the elements of strong
customer authentication referred to in Articles 6, 7 and 8 is subject to measures
which ensure that, in terms of technology, algorithms and parameters, the breach of
one of the elements does not compromise the reliability of the other elements.
2. Payment service providers shall adopt security measures, where any of the elements
of strong customer authentication or the authentication code itself is used through a
multi-purpose device, to mitigate the risk which would result from that multi-purpose
device being compromised.
3. For the purposes of paragraph 2, the mitigating measures shall include each of the
following:
(a) the use of separated secure execution environments through the software
installed inside the multi-purpose device;
(b) mechanisms to ensure that the software or device has not been altered by the
payer or by a third party;
(c) where alterations have taken place, mechanisms to mitigate the consequences
thereof.

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 CHAPTER III
EXEMPTIONS FROM STRONG CUSTOMER
AUTHENTICATION

Article 10
Payment account information
1. Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer
authentication, subject to compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 2
and to paragraph 2 of this Article and, where a payment service user is limited to
accessing either or both of the following items online without disclosure of sensitive
payment data:
(a) the balance of one or more designated payment accounts;
(b) the payment transactions executed in the last 90 days through one or more
designated payment accounts.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall not be exempted
from the application of strong customer authentication where either of the following
condition is met:
(a) the payment service user is accessing online the information specified in
paragraph 1 for the first time;
(b) more than 90 days have elapsed since the last time the payment service user
accessed online the information specified in paragraph 1(b) and strong
customer authentication was applied.

Article 11
Contactless payments at point of sale
Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer authentication,
subject to compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 2, where the payer initiates a
contactless electronic payment transaction provided that the following conditions are met:
(a) the individual amount of the contactless electronic payment transaction does
not exceed EUR 50; and
(b) the cumulative amount of previous contactless electronic payment transactions
initiated by means of a payment instrument with a contactless functionality
from the date of the last application of strong customer authentication does not
exceed EUR 150; or
(c) the number of consecutive contactless electronic payment transactions initiated
via the payment instrument offering a contactless functionality since the last
application of strong customer authentication does not exceed five.

Article 12
Unattended terminals for transport fares and parking fees
Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer authentication,
subject to compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 2, where the payer initiates
an electronic payment transaction at an unattended payment terminal for the purpose of
paying a transport fare or a parking fee.

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 Article 13
Trusted beneficiaries
1. Payment service providers shall apply strong customer authentication where a payer
creates or amends a list of trusted beneficiaries through the payer’s account servicing
payment service provider.
2. Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer
authentication, subject to compliance with the general authentication requirements,
where the payer initiates a payment transaction and the payee is included in a list of
trusted beneficiaries previously created by the payer.

Article 14
Recurring transactions
1. Payment service providers shall apply strong customer authentication when a payer
creates, amends, or initiates for the first time, a series of recurring transactions with
the same amount and with the same payee.
2. Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer
authentication, subject to compliance with the general authentication requirements,
for the initiation of all subsequent payment transactions included in the series of
payment transactions referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 15
Credit transfers between accounts held by the same natural or legal person
Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer authentication,
subject to compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 2, where the payer initiates a
credit transfer in circumstances where the payer and the payee are the same natural or legal
person and both payment accounts are held by the same account servicing payment service
provider.

Article 16
Low-value transactions
Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer authentication,
where the payer initiates a remote electronic payment transaction provided that the following
conditions are met:
(a) the amount of the remote electronic payment transaction does not exceed EUR 30;
and
(b) the cumulative amount of previous remote electronic payment transactions initiated
by the payer since the last application of strong customer authentication does not,
exceed EUR 100; or
(c) the number of previous remote electronic payment transactions initiated by the payer
since the last application of strong customer authentication does not exceed 5
consecutive individual remote electronic payment transactions.

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 Article 17
Secure corporate payment processes and protocols
Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer authentication, in
respect of legal persons initiating electronic payment transactions through the use of dedicated
payment processes or protocols that are only made available to payers who are not consumers,
where the competent authorities are satisfied that those processes or protocols guarantee at
least equivalent levels of security to those provided for by Directive 2015/2366.

Article 18
Transaction risk analysis
1. Payment service providers shall be allowed not to apply strong customer
authentication where the payer initiates a remote electronic payment transaction
identified by the payment service provider as posing a low level of risk according to
the transaction monitoring mechanisms referred to in Article 2 and in paragraph 2(c)
of this Article.
2. An electronic payment transaction referred to in paragraph 1 shall be considered as
posing a low level of risk where all the following conditions are met:
(a) the fraud rate for that type of transaction, reported by the payment service
provider and calculated in accordance with Article 19, is equivalent to or below
the reference fraud rates specified in the table set out in the Annex for ‘remote
electronic card-based payments’ and ‘remote electronic credit transfers’
respectively;
(b) the amount of the transaction does not exceed the relevant Exemption
Threshold Value (‘ETV’) specified in the table set out in the Annex;
(c) payment service providers as a result of performing a real time risk analysis
have not identified any of the following:
(i) abnormal spending or behavioural pattern of the payer;
(ii) unusual information about the payer’s device/software access ;
(iii) malware infection in any session of the authentication procedure;
(iv) known fraud scenario in the provision of payment services;
(v) abnormal location of the payer;
(vi) high risk location of the payee.
3. Payment service providers that intend to exempt electronic remote payment
transactions from strong customer authentication on the ground that they pose a low
risk shall take into account at a minimum, the following risk-based factors:
(a) the previous spending patterns of the individual payment service user;
(b) the payment transaction history of each of the payment service provider’s
payment service users;
(c) the location of the payer and of the payee at the time of the payment
transaction in cases where the access device or the software is provided by the
payment service provider;
(d) the identification of abnormal payment patterns of the payment service user in
relation to the user’s payment transaction history.

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 The assessment made by a payment service provider shall combine all those risk-
based factors into a risk scoring for each individual transaction to determine whether
a specific payment should be allowed without strong customer authentication.

Article 19
Calculation of fraud rates
1. For each type of transaction referred to in the table set out in the Annex, the payment
service provider shall ensure that the overall fraud rates covering both payment
transactions authenticated through strong customer authentication and those executed
under any of the exemptions referred to in Articles 13 to 18 are equivalent to, or
lower than, the reference fraud rate for the same type of payment transaction
indicated in the table set out in the Annex.
The overall fraud rate for each type of transaction shall be calculated as the total
value of unauthorised or fraudulent remote transactions, whether the funds have been
recovered or not, divided by the total value of all remote transactions for the same
type of transactions, whether authenticated with the application of strong customer
authentication or executed under any exemption referred to in Articles 13 to 18 on a
rolling quarterly basis (90 days).
2. The calculation of the fraud rates and resulting figures shall be assessed by the audit
review referred to in Article 3(2), which shall ensure that they are complete and
accurate.
3. The methodology and any model, used by the payment service provider to calculate
the fraud rates, as well as the fraud rates themselves, shall be adequately documented
and made fully available to competent authorities and to EBA, with prior notification
to the relevant competent authority(ies), upon their request.

Article 20
Cessation of exemptions based on transaction risk analysis
1. Payment service providers that make use of the exemption referred to in Article 18
shall immediately report to the competent authorities where one of their monitored
fraud rates, for any type of payment transactions indicated in the table set out in the
Annex, exceeds the applicable reference fraud rate and shall provide to the
competent authorities a description of the measures that they intend to adopt to
restore compliance of their monitored fraud rate with the applicable reference fraud
rates.
2. Payment service providers shall immediately cease to make use of the exemption
referred to in Article 18 for any type of payment transactions indicated in the table
set out in the Annex in the specific exemption threshold range where their monitored
fraud rate exceeds for two consecutive quarters the reference fraud rate applicable for
that payment instrument or type of payment transaction in that exemption threshold
range.
3. Following the cessation of the exemption referred to in Article 18 in accordance with
paragraph 2 of this Article, payment service providers shall not use that exemption
again, until their calculated fraud rate equals to, or is below, the reference fraud rates
applicable for that type of payment transaction in that exemption threshold range for
one quarter.

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 4. Where payment service providers intend to make use again of the exemption referred
to in Article 18, they shall notify the competent authorities in a reasonable timeframe
and shall before making use again of the exemption, provide evidence of the
restoration of compliance of their monitored fraud rate with the applicable reference
fraud rate for that exemption threshold range in accordance with paragraph 3 of this
Article.

Article 21
Monitoring
1. In order to make use of the exemptions set out in Articles 10 to 18, payment service
providers shall record and monitor the following data for each type of payment
transactions, with a breakdown for both remote and non-remote payment
transactions, at least on a quarterly basis:
(a) the total value of unauthorised or fraudulent payment transactions in
accordance with Article 64(2) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, the total value of
all payment transactions and the resulting fraud rate, including a breakdown of
payment transactions initiated through strong customer authentication and
under each of the exemptions;
(b) the average transaction value, including a breakdown of payment transactions
initiated through strong customer authentication and under each of the
exemptions;
(c) the number of payment transactions where each of the exemptions was applied
and their percentage in respect of the total number of payment transactions.
2. Payment service providers shall make the results of the monitoring in accordance
with paragraph 1 available to competent authorities and to EBA, with prior
notification to the relevant competent authority(ies), upon their request.

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 CHAPTER IV
CONFIDENTIALITY AND INTEGRITY OF THE PAYMENT
SERVICE USERS’ PERSONALISED SECURITY
CREDENTIALS

Article 22
General requirements
1. Payment service providers shall ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the
personalised security credentials of the payment service user, including
authentication codes, during all phases of the authentication.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall ensure that each of
the following requirements is met:
(a) personalised security credentials are masked when displayed and are not
readable in their full extent when input by the payment service user during the
authentication;
(b) personalised security credentials in data format, as well as cryptographic
materials related to the encryption of the personalised security credentials are
not stored in plaintext;
(c) secret cryptographic material is protected from unauthorised disclosure.
3. Payment service providers shall fully document the process related to the
management of cryptographic material used to encrypt or otherwise render
unreadable the personalised security credentials.
4. Payment service providers shall ensure that the processing and routing of
personalised security credentials and of the authentication codes generated in
accordance with Chapter II take place in secure environments in accordance with
strong and widely recognised industry standards.

Article 23
Creation and transmission of credentials
Payment service providers shall ensure that the creation of personalised security credentials is
performed in a secure environment.
They shall mitigate the risks of unauthorised use of the personalised security credentials and
of the authentication devices and software following their loss, theft or copying before their
delivery to the payer.

Article 24
Association with the payment service user
1. Payment service providers shall ensure that only the payment service user is
associated, in a secure manner, with the personalised security credentials, the
authentication devices and the software.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall ensure that each of
the following requirements is met:

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 (a) the association of the payment service user’s identity with personalised security
credentials, authentication devices and software is carried out in secure
environments under the payment service provider’s responsibility comprising
at least the payment service provider’s premises, the internet environment
provided by the payment service provider or other similar secure websites used
by the payment service provider and its automated teller machine services, and
taking into account risks associated with devices and underlying components
used during the association process that are not under the responsibility of the
payment service provider;
(b) the association by means of a remote channel of the payment service user’s
identity with the personalised security credentials and with authentication
devices or software is performed using strong customer authentication.

Article 25
Delivery of credentials, authentication devices and software
1. Payment service providers shall ensure that the delivery of personalised security
credentials, authentication devices and software to the payment service user is
carried out in a secure manner designed to address the risks related to their
unauthorised use due to their loss, theft or copying.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall at least apply each of
the following measures:
(a) effective and secure delivery mechanisms ensuring that the personalised
security credentials, authentication devices and software are delivered to the
legitimate payment service user;
(b) mechanisms that allow the payment service provider to verify the authenticity
of the authentication software delivered to the payment services user by means
of the internet;
(c) arrangements ensuring that, where the delivery of personalised security
credentials is executed outside the premises of the payment service provider or
through a remote channel:
(i) no unauthorised party can obtain more than one feature of the
personalised security credentials, the authentication devices or software
when delivered through the same channel;
(ii) the delivered personalised security credentials, authentication devices
or software require activation before usage;
(d) arrangements ensuring that, in cases where the personalised security
credentials, the authentication devices or software have to be activated before
their first use, the activation shall take place in a secure environment in
accordance with the association procedures referred to in Article 24.

Article 26
Renewal of personalised security credentials
Payment service providers shall ensure that the renewal or re-activation of personalised
security credentials adhere to the procedures for the creation, association and delivery of the
credentials and of the authentication devices in accordance with Articles 23, 24 and 25.

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 Article 27
Destruction, deactivation and revocation
Payment service providers shall ensure that they have effective processes in place to apply
each of the following security measures:
(a) the secure destruction, deactivation or revocation of the personalised security
credentials, authentication devices and software;
(b) where the payment service provider distributes reusable authentication devices and
software, the secure re-use of a device or software is established, documented and
implemented before making it available to another payment services user;
(c) the deactivation or revocation of information related to personalised security
credentials stored in the payment service provider’s systems and databases and,
where relevant, in public repositories.
CHAPTER V
COMMON AND SECURE OPEN STANDARDS OF
COMMUNICATION

SECTION 1
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMUNICATION

Article 28
Requirements for identification
1. Payment service providers shall ensure secure identification when communicating
between the payer’s device and the payee’s acceptance devices for electronic
payments, including but not limited to payment terminals.
2. Payment service providers shall ensure that the risks of misdirection of
communication to unauthorised parties in mobile applications and other payment
services users’ interfaces offering electronic payment services are effectively
mitigated.

Article 29
Traceability
1. Payment service providers shall have processes in place which ensure that all
payment transactions and other interactions with the payment services user, with
other payment service providers and with other entities, including merchants, in the
context of the provision of the payment service are traceable, ensuring knowledge
ex-post of all events relevant to the electronic transaction in all the various stages.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, payment service providers shall ensure that any
communication session established with the payment services user, other payment
service providers and other entities, including merchants, relies on each of the
following:
(a) a unique identifier of the session;
(b) security mechanisms for the detailed logging of the transaction, including
transaction number, timestamps and all relevant transaction data;

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 (c) timestamps which shall be based on a unified time-reference system and which
shall be synchronised according to an official time signal.
SECTION 2
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COMMON AND SECURE OPEN STANDARDS OF
COMMUNICATION

Article 30
General obligations for access interfaces
1. Account servicing payment service providers that offer to a payer a payment account
that is accessible online shall have in place at least one interface which meets each of
the following requirements:
(a) account information service providers, payment initiation service providers and
payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments are able to
identify themselves towards the account servicing payment service provider;
(b) account information service providers are able to communicate securely to
request and receive information on one or more designated payment accounts
and associated payment transactions;
(c) payment initiation service providers are able to communicate securely to
initiate a payment order from the payer’s payment account and receive all
information on the initiation of the payment transaction and all information
accessible to the account servicing payment service providers regarding the
execution of the payment transaction.
2. For the purposes of authentication of the payment service user, the interface referred
to in paragraph 1 shall allow account information service providers and payment
initiation service providers to rely on all the authentication procedures provided by
the account servicing payment service provider to the payment service user.
The interface shall at least meet all of the following requirements:
(a) a payment initiation service provider or an account information service
provider shall be able to instruct the account servicing payment service
provider to start the authentication based on the consent of the payment service
user;
(b) communication sessions between the account servicing payment service
provider, the account information service provider, the payment initiation
service provider and any payment service user concerned shall be established
and maintained throughout the authentication;
(c) the integrity and confidentiality of the personalised security credentials and of
authentication codes transmitted by or through the payment initiation service
provider or the account information service provider shall be ensured.
3. Account servicing payment service providers shall ensure that their interfaces follow
standards of communication which are issued by international or European
standardisation organisations.
Account servicing payment service providers shall also ensure that the technical
specification of any of the interfaces is documented specifying a set of routines,
protocols, and tools needed by payment initiation service providers, account
information service providers and payment service providers issuing card-based

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 payment instruments for allowing their software and applications to interoperate with
the systems of the account servicing payment service providers.
Account servicing payment service providers shall at a minimum, and no less than
six months before the application date referred to in Article 38(2), or before the
target date for the market launch of the access interface when the launch takes place
after the date referred to in Article 38(2), make the documentation available, at no
charge, upon request by authorised payment initiation service providers, account
information service providers and payment service providers issuing card-based
payment instruments or payment service providers that have applied to their
competent authorities for the relevant authorisation, and shall make a summary of the
documentation publicly available on their website.
4. In addition to paragraph 3, account servicing payment service providers shall ensure
that, except for emergency situations, any change to the technical specification of
their interface is made available to authorised payment initiation service providers,
account information service providers and payment service providers issuing card-
based payment instruments, or payment service providers that have applied to their
competent authorities for the relevant authorisation, in advance as soon as possible
and not less than 3 months before the change is implemented.
Payment service providers shall document emergency situations where changes were
implemented and make the documentation available to competent authorities on
request.
5. Account servicing payment service providers shall make available a testing facility,
including support, for connection and functional testing to enable authorised payment
initiation service providers, payment service providers issuing card-based payment
instruments and account information service providers, or payment service providers
that have applied for the relevant authorisation, to test their software and applications
used for offering a payment service to users. This testing facility should be made
available no later than six months before the application date referred to in Article
38(2) or before the target date for the market launch of the access interface when the
launch takes place after the date referred to in Article 38(2).
However, no sensitive information shall be shared through the testing facility.
6. Competent authorities shall ensure that account servicing payment service providers
comply at all times with the obligations included in these standards in relation to the
interface(s) that they put in place. In the event that an account servicing payment
services provider fails to comply with the requirements for interfaces laid down in
these standards, competent authorities shall ensure that the provision of payment
initiation services and account information services is not prevented or disrupted to
the extent that the respective providers of such services comply with the conditions
defined under Article 33(5).

Article 31
Access interface options
Account servicing payment service providers shall establish the interface(s) referred to in
Article 30 by means of a dedicated interface or by allowing the use by the payment service
providers referred to in Article 30(1) of the interfaces used for authentication and
communication with the account servicing payment service provider’s payment services
users.

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 Article 32
Obligations for a dedicated interface
1. Subject to compliance with Article 30 and 31, account servicing payment service
providers that have put in place a dedicated interface shall ensure that the dedicated
interface offers at all times the same level of availability and performance, including
support, as the interfaces made available to the payment service user for directly
accessing its payment account online.
2. Account servicing payment service providers that have put in place a dedicated
interface shall define transparent key performance indicators and service level
targets, at least as stringent as those set for the interface used by their payment
service users both in terms of availability and of data provided in accordance with
Article 36. Those interfaces, indicators and targets shall be monitored by the
competent authorities and stress-tested.
3. Account servicing payment service providers that have put in place a dedicated
interface shall ensure that this interface does not create obstacles to the provision of
payment initiation and account information services. Such obstacles, may include,
among others, preventing the use by payment service providers referred to in Article
30(1) of the credentials issued by account servicing payment service providers to
their customers, imposing redirection to the account servicing payment service
provider's authentication or other functions, requiring additional authorisations and
registrations in addition to those provided for in Articles 11, 14 and 15 of Directive
2015/2366, or requiring additional checks of the consent given by payment service
users to providers of payment initiation and account information services.
4. For the purpose of paragraphs 1 and 2, account servicing payment service providers
shall monitor the availability and performance of the dedicated interface. Account
servicing payment service providers shall publish on their website quarterly statistics
on the availability and performance of the dedicated interface and of the interface
used by its payment service users.

Article 33
Contingency measures for a dedicated interface
1. Account servicing payment service providers shall include, in the design of the
dedicated interface, a strategy and plans for contingency measures for the event that
the interface does not perform in compliance with Article 32, that there is unplanned
unavailability of the interface and that there is a systems breakdown. Unplanned
unavailability or a systems breakdown may be presumed to have arisen when five
consecutive requests for access to information for the provision of payment initiation
services or account information services are not replied to within 30 seconds.
2. Contingency measures shall include communication plans to inform payment service
providers making use of the dedicated interface of measures to restore the system and
a description of the immediately available alternative options payment service
providers may have during this time.
3. Both the account servicing payment service provider and the payment service
providers referred to in Article 30(1) shall report problems with dedicated interfaces
as described in paragraph 1 to their respective competent national authorities without
delay.

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 4. As part of a contingency mechanism, payment service providers referred to in Article
30(1) shall be allowed to make use of the interfaces made available to the payment
service users for the authentication and communication with their account servicing
payment service provider, until the dedicated interface is restored to the level of
availability and performance provided for in Article 32.
5. For this purpose, account servicing payment service providers shall ensure that the
payment service providers referred to in Article 30(1) can be identified and can rely
on the authentication procedures provided by the account servicing payment service
provider to the payment service user. Where the payment service providers referred
to in Article 30(1) make use of the interface referred to in paragraph 4 they shall:
(a) take the necessary measures to ensure that they do not access, store or
process data for purposes other than for the provision of the service as
requested by the payment service user;
(b) continue to comply with the obligations following from Article 66(3) and
Article 67(2) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 respectively;
(c) log the data that are accessed through the interface operated by the
account servicing payment service provider for its payment service users,
and provide, upon request and without undue delay, the log files to their
competent national authority;
(d) duly justify to their competent national authority, upon request and
without undue delay, the use of the interface made available to the
payment service users for directly accessing its payment account online;
(e) inform the account servicing payment service provider accordingly.
6. Competent authorities, after consulting EBA to ensure a consistent application of the
following conditions, shall exempt the account servicing payment service providers
that have opted for a dedicated interface from the obligation to set up the
contingency mechanism described under paragraph 4 where the dedicated interface
meets all of the following conditions:
(a) it complies with all the obligations for dedicated interfaces as set out in
Article 32;
(b) it has been designed and tested in accordance with Article 30(5) to the
satisfaction of the payment service providers referred to therein;
(c) it has been widely used for at least three months by payment service
providers to offer account information services, payment initiation
services and to provide confirmation on the availability of funds for card-
based payments;
(d) any problem related to the dedicated interface has been resolved without
undue delay.
7. Competent authorities shall revoke the exemption referred to in paragraph 6 where
the conditions (a) and (d) are not met by the account servicing payment service
providers for more than two consecutive calendar weeks. Competent authorities shall
inform EBA of this revocation and shall ensure that the account servicing payment
service provider establishes, within the shortest possible time and at the latest within
two months, the contingency mechanism referred to in paragraph 4.

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 Article 34
Certificates
1. For the purpose of identification, as referred to in Article 30(1)(a), payment service
providers shall rely on qualified certificates for electronic seals as referred to in
Article 3(30) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the
Council or for website authentication as referred to in Article 3(39) of that
Regulation.
2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the registration number as referred to in the
official records in accordance with Annex III (c) or Annex IV (c) to Regulation (EU)
No 910/2014 shall be the authorisation number of the payment service provider
issuing card-based payment instruments, the account information service providers
and payment initiation service providers, including account servicing payment
service providers providing such services, available in the public register of the home
Member State pursuant to Article 14 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 or resulting from
the notifications of every authorisation granted under Article 8 of Directive
2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council4 in accordance with
Article 20 of that Directive.
3. For the purposes of this Regulation, qualified certificates for electronic seals or for
website authentication referred to in paragraph 1 shall include, in a language
customary in the sphere of international finance, additional specific attributes in
relation to each of the following:
(a) the role of the payment service provider, which maybe one or more of the
following:
(i) account servicing;
(ii) payment initiation;
(iii) account information;
(iv) issuing of card-based payment instruments;
(b) the name of the competent authorities where the payment service provider is
registered.
4. The attributes referred to in paragraph 3 shall not affect the interoperability and
recognition of qualified certificates for electronic seals or website authentication.

Article 35
Security of communication session
1. Account servicing payment service providers, payment service providers issuing
card-based payment instruments, account information service providers and payment
initiation service providers shall ensure that, when exchanging data by means of the
internet, secure encryption is applied between the communicating parties throughout
the respective communication session in order to safeguard the confidentiality and
the integrity of the data, using strong and widely recognised encryption techniques.

4
Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the
activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms,
amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC (OJ L 176,
27.6.2013, p. 338).

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 2. Payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments, account
information service providers and payment initiation service providers shall keep the
access sessions offered by account servicing payment service providers as short as
possible and they shall actively terminate any such session as soon as the requested
action has been completed.
3. When maintaining parallel network sessions with the account servicing payment
service provider, account information service providers and payment initiation
service providers shall ensure that those sessions are securely linked to relevant
sessions established with the payment service user(s) in order to prevent the
possibility that any message or information communicated between them could be
misrouted.
4. Account information service providers, payment initiation service providers and
payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments with the account
servicing payment service provider shall contain unambiguous references to each of
the following items:
(a) the payment service user or users and the corresponding communication
session in order to distinguish several requests from the same payment service
user or users;
(b) for payment initiation services, the uniquely identified payment transaction
initiated;
(c) for confirmation on the availability of funds, the uniquely identified request
related to the amount necessary for the execution of the card-based payment
transaction.
5. Account servicing payment service providers, account information service providers,
payment initiation service providers and payment service providers issuing card-
based payment instruments shall ensure that where they communicate personalised
security credentials and authentication codes, these are not readable, directly or
indirectly, by any staff at any time.
In case of loss of confidentiality of personalised security credentials under their
sphere of competence, those providers shall inform without undue delay the payment
services user associated with them and the issuer of the personalised security
credentials.

Article 36
Data exchanges
1. Account servicing payment service providers shall comply with each of the
following requirements:
(a) they shall provide account information service providers with the same
information from designated payment accounts and associated payment
transactions made available to the payment service user when directly
requesting access to the account information, provided that this information
does not include sensitive payment data;
(b) they shall, immediately after receipt of the payment order, provide payment
initiation service providers with the same information on the initiation and
execution of the payment transaction provided or made available to the
payment service user when the transaction is initiated directly by the latter;

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 (c) they shall, upon request, immediately provide payment service providers with a
confirmation in a simple 'yes' or 'no' format, whether the amount necessary for
the execution of a payment transaction is available on the payment account of
the payer.
2. In case of an unexpected event or error occurring during the process of identification,
authentication, or the exchange of the data elements, the account servicing payment
service provider shall send a notification message to the payment initiation service
provider or the account information service provider and the payment service
provider issuing card-based payment instruments which explains the reason for the
unexpected event or error.
Where the account servicing payment service provider offers a dedicated interface in
accordance with Article 32, the interface shall provide for notification messages
concerning unexpected events or errors to be communicated by any payment service
provider that detects the event or error to the other payment service providers
participating in the communication session.
3. Account information service providers shall have in place suitable and effective
mechanisms that prevent access to information other than from designated payment
accounts and associated payment transactions, in accordance with the user’s explicit
consent.
4. Payment initiation service providers shall provide account servicing payment service
providers with the same information as requested from the payment service user
when initiating the payment transaction directly.
5. Account information service providers shall be able to access information from
designated payment accounts and associated payment transactions held by account
servicing payment service providers for the purposes of performing the account
information service in either of the following circumstances:
(a) whenever the payment service user is actively requesting such information;
(b) where the payment service user does not actively request such information, no
more than four times in a 24 hour period, unless a higher frequency is agreed
between the account information service provider and the account servicing
payment service provider, with the payment service user’s consent.
CHAPTER VI
FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 37
Review
Without prejudice to Article 98(5) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, EBA shall review by [OP:
please insert date corresponding to ’18 months after the date of application referred to in
Article 38(2)] the fraud rates referred to in the Annex to this Regulation as well as the
exemptions granted under Article 33(6) in relation to dedicated interfaces and, if appropriate,
submit draft updates thereto to the Commission in accordance with Article 10 of Regulation
(EU) No 1093/2010.

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 Article 38
Entry into force
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in
the Official Journal of the European Union.
2. This Regulation shall apply from [OP: please insert date corresponding to ’18
months after entry into force date’].
3. However, paragraphs 3 and 5 of Article 30 shall apply [OP: please insert date
corresponding to 12 months after entry into force date].

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 27.11.2017

For the Commission

The President
Jean-Claude JUNCKER

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