The European Parliament adopted a resolution which calls for future EU rules to make paying cheap, easy and safe card payments. According to MEPs, common EU technical and security standards would make card payments easier to handle, and fees charged for handling them should reflect real costs.

A resolution adopted in plenary session calls on common EU technical and security standards that, according to MEPs, would make card payments easier to handle, and fees charged for handling them should reflect real costs. They stressed that future EU rules card payments should be modelled on those for cross-border bank transfers, so as to make paying cheap, easy and safe. In February 2012, the European Parliament approved the rules to simplify the cross-border payments.

MEPs also stressed that these rules and standards should be based on those developed for the single Euro payments area (SEPA) regulation, which governs euro credit and direct debit transactions among banks. They added that enforcing cost transparency should ensure that fees converge towards the lowest EU level.

With regard to the Internet and mobile payments, MEPs highlighted that a SEPA-like model is also needed for these payments, but it should avoid regulating this market too heavily, so as not to hinder its natural growth or stifle innovation. On the other hand, current fees for handling card payments are often too high relative to the costs they need to cover. Nevertheless, these fees do not need to be capped, they add, as making costs transparent should help to make handling fees converge to the common lowest level based on real costs. Also they agreed that the minimum security requirements for card, internet and mobile payment should be the same in all EU member states.