Today the European Commission published a consultation paper on transparency and fees in cross-border transactions in the EU. All citizens and stakeholders (companies, organisations, public authorities, experts) are invited to take part in this consultation. Some questions are of a general nature, others more technical and would more easily be answered by experts. Suggestions are made regarding which category of stakeholder is expected to reply.
However, there is no restriction for other categories of stakeholders when they are not explicitly mentioned. In other words, all questions are open to all stakeholders.
Earlier this year, the Commission presented its action plan on consumer financial services. Actions 1 and 2 of the action plan announced measures related to the fees paid payment services users for cross-border transactions and their transparency.
The consultation seeks to collect views from a broad range of stakeholders, as well as from the public and will help the Commission define the best way forward to complete the objective of reducing the cost of cross-border payments. It looks into the different components of cross-border payments in non-euro currencies of the EU but also inquires about how euro transactions are priced in non-euro Member States. The consultation specifically explores two dimensions of cross-border payments: the cost of a transaction and the cost of currency conversion.
The consultation runs until 30 October 2017 and the Commission statement together with related information can be found here.