Payment and e-money

• Ordinance No 2017-1252 of 9 August 2017

• Decree No 2017-1313 of 31 August 2017

• Decree No 2017-1314 of 31 August 2017

• Ministerial Order of 31 August 2017 which revises the Order of 29 October 2009 about the prudential regulation of payment institutions : the new consolidated version of the Order of 29 October 2009, which enters into force from 13 January 2018 onwards is available here.  

• Ministerial Order of 31 August 2017 which revises the Order of 2 May 2009 about the prudential regulation of e-money institutions : the new consolidated version of the Order of 2 May 2009, which enters into force from 13 January 2018 onwards is available here.  

• Ministerial Order of 31 August 2017 which revises the Order of 29 July 2009 about the requirements to duly inform the users of payment services providers: the new consolidated version of the Order of 29 July 2009, which enters into force from 13 January 2018 onwards is available here.

• Ministerial Order of 31 August 2017 which revises the Order of 3 Novembre 2014 about the internal control requirements of financial institutions that are supervised by the ACPR: the new consolidated version of the Order of 3 November 2014, which enters into force from 13 January 2018 onwards is available here.  

The law of 7 October 2016 for a digital republic lays down two measures, which transpose in advance the second European directive on payment services (PSD2). From now on:

•  a firm providing payment services within a restricted network of entities accepting said mean of payment or for a limited range of goods or services shall submit a request for exemption to the ACPR, if and only if the total value of payment transactions over the preceding 12 months exceeds the amount of EUR 1 million (article L.521-3 of the French financial and monetary code). If the volume of payment transactions is below EUR 1 million and if the payment services are provided within a restricted network of entities accepting said mean of payment or for a limited range of goods or services, the firm can undertake its activity without any notification to the ACPR.

• Telecommunication provider, which provide payment services (1) for the purchase of digital content and voice-based services, or (2) for donating money to charities or (3) for the purchase of electronic tickets (parking, public transportation, cultural and sporting events) shall submit an exemption request to the ACPR from the regulation applicable to payment service providers (article L.521-3-1 of the French financial and monetary code). The field of goods and services that are eligible to the exemption is therefore larger than before. In order to benefit that exemption, the telecommunication provider shall meet the following requirements:
  • To justify that the whole range of goods or services that can be purchased by using payment means provided by the telecommunication provider fall within one of the three categories laid down by the law (digital content and voice-based services or donation to charities or electronic tickets);
  • To implement adequate means to ensure that payments stay always below EUR 50 per transaction and below EUR 300 of cumulated transactions per month and per client;
  • To send an annual report to the ACPR, which would demonstrate that the requirements for benefiting the exemption are still met.

• ACPR has issued on October, 25th 2017 an opinion that set out how these criteria must be understood. This reflects the commitment made by the supervisory authorities to ensure, in a dialogue and cooperation approach, greater transparency towards market participants and more proportionality in regulation.