rec_12

(12) For a direct debit transaction to be executed, the payer’s account must be reachable. To encourage the successful take-up of SEPA direct debits, it is therefore vital that all payer accounts be reachable where this is already the case for existing national direct debits denominated in euro, otherwise the payer and the payee will be unable to enjoy the benefits of cross-border direct debit collection. If the payer account is not reachable under the SEPA direct debit scheme, the payer (debtor) and the payee (creditor) will be unable to benefit from the new direct debit payment opportunities available. This is especially important where the payee initiates direct debit collections in a batch file, for example on a monthly or quarterly basis for electricity or other utility bills, and not as a separate collection for each customer. If creditors are not able to reach all their debtors in a single operation, additional manual intervention will be needed, which is likely to increase costs. Hence, in the absence of mandatory reachability for the payment service provider of the payer, the efficiency of direct debit collections will not be fully enhanced and competition on a pan-European level will remain restricted. Given the specific features of direct debits between businesses, however, this should apply only to the SEPA core direct debit scheme and not to the SEPA business-to-business direct debit scheme. The reachability obligation encompasses the right of a payment service provider not to execute a direct debit transaction in accordance with the direct debit scheme regarding, for example, the rejection, refusal or return of transactions. The reachability obligation should, furthermore, not apply to payment service providers which have been authorised to provide and execute direct debit transactions but which do not engage commercially in such activities.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.