The Council’s decisions of 29 October advance the payment services reform to its next procedural stage. They must be distinguished from the final adoption, entry into force and application of the legislation. Council procedural documents.
PSD3 primarily addresses authorisation and supervision and brings the regulation of payment institutions and electronic money institutions into a common framework. PSR establishes rules for providing payment services.
An existing authorisation does not remove the need for a compliance assessment
The Council’s PSD3 text provides transitional arrangements for existing payment institutions and electronic money institutions. The supervisory authority must be able to assess their compliance with the new requirements. Automatic authorisation is possible under certain conditions, but requires the supervisor to hold evidence confirming compliance.
The text uses a period of 21 months from entry into force for general transposition and application. A 27-month deadline also appears in connection with the transition of existing authorisations. These deadlines serve different purposes and do not provide a uniform additional preparation period for all obligations. Council PSD3 text, Articles 43–44 and 49.
We recommend that institutions map the new requirements against their authorisation documents, actual service model, internal procedures and client agreements. Each change should have an owner, the evidence required and implementation dependencies.
Calendar deadlines must be determined from the final legislation and its entry into force. The possibility of automatic authorisation should not be treated as automatic confirmation of compliance.