What changed between the draft committee report of 9 Feb 2024 and the draft committee report of 3 Nov 2025

Added:Recital 17: (17) The digital euro should have legal tender status for payments of a monetary debt denominated in euro to a payee residing or established in the euro area.

Removed:Recital 58: (58) Users should be able, if they so wish, to onboard and authorise payments with the Digital Euro by using the European Digital Identity Wallets. Payment service providers should therefore be obliged to accept the European Digital Identity Wallets for the verification of both prospective and existing customers’ identities, in line with Regulation (EU) [please insert reference – proposal for a Regulation for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation – COM/2021/421 final). To facilitate the opening of Digital Euro wallets across the Union, payment service providers should also be able to rely on qualified attestations provided by the European Digital Identity Wallets, including for the remote performance of customer due diligence. Payment service providers should also accept the use of European Digital Identity Wallets if the payer wishes to use the wallet for payment authorisation of Digital Euro payment transactions. Further, to facilitate offline proximity payments in Digital Euro, it should be possible to use the European Digital Identity Wallets for the storage of Digital Euros in the payment device.

Added:Recital 18: (18) Since the digital euro requires the capacity to accept digital means of payment, imposing an obligation of mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro on all payees could be disproportionate. To this end, exceptions to the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro should be provided for natural persons acting as self-employed persons in a commercial activity or in the course of a purely personal or household activity. Exceptions to mandatory acceptance should also be provided for small enterprises, which are particularly important in the euro area for the development of entrepreneurship job creation and innovation, playing a vital role in shaping the economy. Union policies and actions should reduce regulatory burdens for enterprises of that size. Exceptions to mandatory acceptance should also be provided for non-profit legal entities which promote the public interest and serve the public good performing a variety of goals of societal interest, including equity, education, health, environmental protection and human rights. For small enterprises and non-profit legal entities, the acquisition of the required infrastructure and the acceptance costs would be disproportionate. They should therefore be exempted from the obligation to accept payments in digital euro. In such cases, other means for the settlement of monetary debts should remain available. Finally, a payee may also refuse a payment in digital euro if the refusal is made in good faith and if the payee …

Change 4

Changed:Recital 59: (59) To21: facilitate(21) aThe harmonisedmain userobjective experience,of the Digital Euro, design features, rules and standardsestablishment thatof the European Central Bank may adoptdigital pursuanteuro tois its own competences,use shouldas ensurea thatform eligibleof distributingthe paymentsingle servicecurrency providerswith enablelegal anytender Digitalin Eurothe usereuro toarea. carryFor outthis Digitalpurpose Euroand paymentin transactionsline with any other Digital Eurothe usersAgreement acrosson the euroEuropean areaEconomic regardlessArea, ofdigital theeuro paymentusers serviceresiding providersor involvedestablished andin the front-end serviceseuro used.area, Asincluding aconsumers default,with theno ECBfixed shouldaddress, enableasylum eligibleseekers distributingand paymentconsumers servicewho providersare tonot offergranted toa theirresidence Digitalpermit Eurobut userswhose theirexpulsion ownis paymentimpossible solution.for Thelegal ECBor front-endfactual shouldreasons, servicemay asbe aprovided back-upwith solutiondigital foreuro payment service providersservices thatby arePSPs notestablished in position to offer a proprietary front-end. To reduce the fragmentationEuropean ofEconomic theArea. EuropeanNatural retailand paymentslegal market,persons andwho towere supportalready competition,receiving efficiencydigital andeuro innovationpayment inservices, thatbecause market,they andopened thea developmentdigital ofeuro payment instruments acrossaccount theor Unionhave inan keepingoffline withdigital theeuro objectivedevice ofat the Commission’stime retailthey paymentresided strategy,or thewere Digitalestablished Euroin infrastructurea ofMember theState Europeanwhose Centralcurrency Bankis shouldthe beeuro, seamlesslybut accessibleno bylonger eligiblereside paymentor serviceare providersestablished toin integratesuch theMember DigitalState, Euromay instill privatereceive digital euro payment solutions,services buildingby onpayment functionalservice andproviders technicalestablished synergies.in Inthe particular,European eligibleEconomic paymentArea, servicein providersline distributingwith the DigitalAgreement Euroon shouldthe ensureEuropean thatEconomic atArea, leastsubject oneto Digitalpossible Eurolimited paymentaccess solutionand theyuse provideof isthe compatibleonline withdigital privateeuro digitalthat paymentthe solutionsEuropean acrossCentral theBank euromay a…define.

Change 5

Removed:Recital 59 a (new): (59a) To facilitate the smooth access of the Digital Euro infrastructure of the ECB, its technical specifications should be adequately documented, and a summary should be made available by the ECB. To enable the Digital Euro payment service providers to adequately prepare their access and to solve any possible technical problems, the ECB should enable eligible distributing payment service providers to test the access to the Digital Euro infrastructure prior to the date on which the Digital Euro will be launched. To ensure the interoperability of different technological communication solutions, the ECB access interface should use standards of communication which are developed by international or European standardisation organisations including the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Added:Recital 22: (22) In accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and the Council, the notion of ‘funds’ means banknotes and coins, scriptural money or electronic money. As a new form of central bank money with legal tender, the digital euro should be considered as funds under Directive (EU) 2015/2366. It should be ensured that payment service providers distributing the digital euro should be subject to the requirements laid down in this Directive as transposed by Member States and supervised for this purpose by the competent authorities referred to in this Directive as well. When issuing the digital euro, the European Central Bank and national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, would be acting in their capacity as monetary authority and should therefore not subject to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 in accordance with Article 1(e) of that Directive, except when resolving transaction-related disputes among payment service providers.

Removed:Recital 61: (61) To access and use the Digital Euro as part of digital euro payment services, Digital Euro users should be provided with front-end services. Those users should have the possibility to access and use Digital Euro payment services via the front-end services provided by payment service providers and by the European Central Bank. Payment service providers should be able to choose to rely on front-end services provided by other stakeholders, including the European Central Bank, notably in the case where the cost of developing and operating front-end services, including applications, are disproportionate. In this respect, payment service providers should have the option of using front-end services developed by payment service providers or front-end services developed by the European Central Bank. The European Central Bank and the payment service providers shall implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including state-of-the-art security and privacy-preserving measures to ensure that the identity of individual Digital Euro users cannot be accessed by the ECB via its front-end solution.

Added:Recital 23: (23) Digital euro payment accounts are a category of payment accounts denominated in euro through which online digital euro users are able to carry out inter alia the following transactions: place funds, withdraw cash and execute and receive online digital euro payment transactions to and from third parties, irrespective of the technology used and the structure of the ledger or of the data (e.g. whether digital euros are recorded as holding balances or units of value). Where these activities require processing of personal data, the payment service providers should be controllers.

Removed:Recital 63: (63) To enable a smooth user experience, payment service providers that provide Digital Euro users with front-end services to access and use the Digital Euro should take care that Digital Euro users can quickly and easily access and use the Digital Euro. In particular, Digital Euro wallets should be clearly labelled by the use of the official Digital Euro logo. Digital Euro wallets should be accessed via one the main pages of the Internet website or an application, or any other front-end services, on an equal footing with non-Digital Euro payment accounts.

Added:Recital 24: (24) Account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 should provide funding and defunding services to their clients, regardless of their ability to provide the liquidity source for those funds in central bank money. At the request of their clients, in view of successfully carrying out funding and defunding services, account servicing to payment service providers that are allowed to have an account at the central bank should provide account servicing payment service providers that are not allowed to have an account at the central bank with access to payment systems, and similarly should pass through the settlement infrastructure the transfer orders of the account servicing payment service providers that are not allowed to have an account at the central bank, in an objective, proportionate and non-discriminatory manner.

Removed:Recital 64: (64) To provide for instantaneous settlement, both online and offline Digital Euro transactions, including in the context of funding and defunding, and as waterfall and reverse waterfall functionalities, should be settled instantaneously, in a few seconds only, in normal circumstances. The settlement of online Digital Euro payment transactions should be performed in the Digital Euro transfer infrastructure adopted by the Eurosystem. Online Digital Euro payment transactions should be settled in a matter of seconds as specified under the functional and technical requirements adopted by the European Central Bank. Final settlement of online Digital Euro payment transactions should be achieved at the moment of recording the Digital Euros concerned of the payer and the payee in the Digital Euro transfer infrastructure approved by the European Central Bank, irrespective of whether Digital Euros are recorded as holding balances or units of value, or of the technology used. The Digital Euro transfer infrastructure should seek to ensure adaptation to new technologies, including distributed ledger technology.

Added:Recital 25: (25) For the purpose of properly enforcing any limits on the use of the digital euro decided upon by the Commission when on-boarding digital euro users, or during ex-post checks where appropriate, payment service providers in charge of distributing the digital euro should verify whether their prospective or existing customer already has digital euro payment accounts. The European Central Bank may support payment service providers in performing the task of enforcing any limits, including by establishing jointly with national central banks a single access point of digital euro user identifiers and the related digital euro holding limits. The European Central Bank should implement appropriate technical and organisational measures, including state-of-the-art security and privacy-preserving measures, to ensure that the identity of individual online digital euro users cannot be linked with the information in the single access point by entities other than payment service providers whose client or potential customer is the digital euro user. The European Central Bank should be controller to the extent that these activities require processing of personal data.

Removed:Recital 67: (67) For reasons of contractual freedom and to ensure competition, Digital Euro users should have the possibility to switch their Digital Euro wallets to different payment service providers. At the request of the Digital Euro users, payment service providers should then enable the switching of the Digital Euro wallets, while maintaining the same wallet identifiers. In exceptional circumstances where a payment service provider is unable to perform this task, including due to having lost the relevant Digital Euro wallet-related data, the European Central Bank should be able to authorise the switching of Digital Euro wallets so that the new payment service provider designated by the Digital Euro user can retrieve the information about the Digital Euro holdings of the Digital Euro user and complete the switching without relying on the unavailable payment service provider. This process should allow a Digital Euro user to then continue accessing its Digital Euro holdings via the new designated payment service provider. The European Central Bank would not have any operational role in the switching of wallets.

Added:Recital 26: (26) To support universal access to the online digital euro by the general public in the euro area, and to foster innovation and a high level of competition in the retail payment market, all the relevant intermediaries should be able to distribute the online digital euro. All account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366, including credit institutions, electronic money institutions, payment institutions, post office giro institutions which are entitled under national law to provide payment services, the European Central Bank and national central banks of Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, when not acting in their capacity as monetary authority or other public authorities, and Member States or their regional or local authorities when not acting in their capacity as public authorities should be able to provide online digital euro payment accounts and the related online digital euro payment services, regardless of their location in the European Economic Area. Crypto asset services providers regulated under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council29 that are account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 should also be allowed to distribute the digital euro. In accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366, account servicing payment service providers should be obliged to provide access to data on payment accounts to payment initiation and account information servic…

Removed:Recital 74: (74) Any processing of personal data to verify whether users are listed persons or entities pursuant to restrictive measures adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU should be in line with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Processing of the names and the wallet identifiers of natural persons is proportionate and necessary to ensure the compliance with restrictive measures adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU providing for asset freeze or prohibition of making funds or economic resources available.

Added:Recital 27: (27) In case the availability of the digital euro were contingent upon free business decisions by all payment service providers, the digital euro could be marginalised or even excluded by the payment service providers. That could prevent users from paying and receiving payments in a form of currency endowed with the status of legal tender. In that case, the singleness in the use of the digital euro throughout the euro area required by Article 133 TFEU, would not be guaranteed. It is therefore essential that designated payment service providers be required to distribute basic digital euro services.

Removed:Recital 75: (75) Offline Digital Euro payment transactions are payments that occur in close physical proximity (“face-to-face”). They have similarities with transactions in cash and should be treated in a similar way in terms of privacy. Payment service providers should therefore not process personal data related to offline Digital Euro payment transactions, but only personal data related to depositing or withdrawing Digital Euros from Digital Euro wallets to load them onto the local storage devices, or from the local storage devices into the Digital Euro wallets This includes the identifier of the local storage devices which payment service providers attribute to a Digital Euro user that holds offline Digital Euro. That level of privacy would be comparable to withdrawals of banknotes at automatic teller machines when payment service providers process personal data related to a user’s identity and data pertaining to how funding and defunding transactions have been carried out. That means that no transaction data monitoring should occur for offline Digital Euro payment transactions.

Added:Recital 28: (28) A requirement to distribute the digital euro should be proportionate to the objective of ensuring an effective use of the digital euro as a legal tender means of payment. Restricting that obligation to credit institutions that are already active in retail business services would ensure the effectiveness of legal tender status, while avoiding putting a disproportionate burden on payment service providers with specialised, non-consumer oriented business models. The obligation to distribute the digital euro is therefore limited to credit institutions providing payment account services at the request of their clients. This is without prejudice to the application of Chapter IV of the Payment Account Directive on access to payment account with basic features to the access to online digital euro account with basic features to consumers which are not client of a credit institution.

Removed:Recital 77: (77) For the purpose of enforcing the holding limits and ensuring the exceptional switching of Digital Euro wallets in emergency situations upon the request of the Digital Euro user, a single access point of Digital Euro user identifiers and the related Digital Euro holding limits is necessary to ensure the efficient functioning of the Digital Euro across the entire euro area, as Digital Euro users may hold Digital Euro wallets in different Member States. When establishing the single access point, the European Central Bank and national central banks should ensure that the processing of personal data is minimised to what is strictly necessary and that data protection by design and by default is embedded. The European Central Bank and national central banks should consider, where appropriate and to minimise the risk of data breaches, the use of decentralised data storage.

Added:Recital 29: (29) To ensure a wide usage of the digital euro, including for persons with disabilities, functional limitations or limited digital skills, and elderly persons, it is essential that public entities, including local or regional authorities, or postal offices, provide basic digital payment services and digital inclusion support. For that purpose, Member States should designate entities that should carry out that task within their territory. Such entities, as payment services providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366, should comply with the provisions of this Regulation, including Directive (EU) 2015/2366 and Directive (EU) 2015/849.

Change 6

Changed:Article 1:Recital With31: a(31) viewPursuant to adaptingits powers under the euroTreaties toand technologicalin changesline andwith the provisions of this Regulation, the Commission should be able to ensuringset itslimits on the use of the digital euro as a singlestore currency,of thisvalue. RegulationThe establisheseffective use of the Digitaldigital Euroeuro andas laysa downlegal rulestender concerningmeans inof particularpayment itsshould legalbe tenderpreserved status,through keylimits characteristicson andinter-PSP essentialor technicalmerchant features.fees.

Change 7

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1: 1. ‘Digital Euro’ means the digital form of banknotes and coins as a part of the single currency available to natural and legal persons as defined in Article 128 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, issued by the European Central Bank or the national central banks, constituting a liability item on the balance sheet of these entities;

Added:Recital 32: (32) An unrestricted use of digital euro as a store of value could endanger financial stability in the euro area, with adverse effects on credit provision to the economy by credit institutions. This may require that the Commission, with a view to ensuring the stability of the financial system, and in line with the principle of proportionality, introduce limits on the digital euro’s use as a store of value. The policy tools that could be used for this purpose include, but would not be restricted to, quantitative limits to individual digital euro holdings and limits to conversion of other categories of funds to digital euro in a specified timeframe. When deciding on those tools, the Commission should respect the principle of an open market economy with free competition, in accordance with Article 127(1) TFEU.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5: 5. ‘Digital Euro wallet’ means an digital wallet held by one or more Digital Euro users with a payment service provider to access Digital Euro recorded in the Digital Euro transfer infrastructure or in an offline Digital Euro device and to initiate or receive Digital Euro payment transactions, whether offline or online, and irrespective of technology and data structure;

Added:Recital 32 a (new): (32a) In order to safeguard financial stability and prevent structural disintermediation risks in the banking sector in the euro area, the holdings of digital euro by natural persons should be subject to quantitative limits. Those limits should ensure that the introduction of the digital euro does not trigger significant outflows of retail deposits or undermine the capacity of credit institutions to provide credit to the economy. To that end, prior to setting the limits by the Commission, the European Central Bank should assess, in close cooperation with the European Systemic Risk Board, the impact of different theoretical holding limits on funding, liquidity and profitability of credit institutions, including at national and institution-specific levels. The assessment should be based on a full-take-up scenario and reflect residual financial stability risks, taking into account periods of extraordinary liquidity and excess reserves that may distort the results. On the basis of that assessment, the Commission should define its risk tolerance to residual financial instability and set initial holding limits by means of a delegated act, ensuring that no credit institution faces an excessive retail deposit outflow and that liquidity coverage ratios remain sound across the euro area and its Member States. Any downward adjustment of those limits should be established by means of delegated acts and any upward revision should be made by means of a legislative proposal, thus preserving…

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9: 9. ‘payer’ means anyone who has a Digital Euro wallet and allows a payment order from that Digital Euro wallet;

Added:Recital 34: (34) Digital euro users should have the choice to use the digital euro either on its online or offline forms, or eventually both, subject to the limits set respectively by the Commission. The payment service providers should register and de-register the offline digital euro device for offline digital euro payment transactions of their customers. The payment service providers should only store the identifier of the offline digital euro device used for offline digital euro for the duration of facilitating the provision of offline digital euro to their customers. The payment service providers should implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including state-of-the-art security and privacy-preserving measures to ensure that the identifier of the offline digital euro device of individual digital euro users cannot be used for other purposes other than for the purpose of the provision of offline digital euro.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 11: 11. ‘funding’ means the process whereby a Digital Euro user acquires Digital Euros, in exchange for either cash or other funds, creating a means of payment (Digital Euro) with legal tender status, representing a liability item in the balance sheet of the European Central Bank or a national central bank towards that Digital Euro user;

Added:Recital 35: (35) The payment service providers should register and re-register the offline digital euro device for offline digital euro payment transactions of their customers. The payment service providers should only store the identifier of the offline digital euro device used for offline digital euro for the duration of facilitating the provision of offline digital euro to their customers. The payment service providers should implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including state-of-the-art security and privacy-preserving measures to ensure that the identifier of the offline digital euro device of individual digital euro users cannot be compared with the information about the digital euro user in order to identify the data subject, except for the purpose of Article 37.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 13 a (new): 13a. ‘online Digital Euro’ means a Digital Euro transfer that is always recorded in an infrastructure;

Added:Recital 36: (36) The digital euro should allow for a smooth payment experience. Any instruments that the Commission might employ to limit the digital euro’s store of value function should take this objective into account. Automated mechanisms that link a digital euro payment account with a non-digital euro payment account should allow for an uninhibited payment functionality of online the digital euro, by ensuring that transactions are successfully executed in the presence of individual digital euro holding limits that may become binding on the payer’s or payee’s side. In particular, an online digital euro users should be able to initiate a digital euro payment transaction even though the amount of their digital euro holdings is inferior to the amount of the transaction, by automatically mobilising funds from a non-digital euro payment account to complement the transaction amount (‘reverse waterfall functionality’). Conversely, online digital euro users should be able to receive digital euro payment transactions even though the amount of the transaction exceeds the limit set on their digital euro holdings, by automatically transferring funds in excess of the limit to a non-digital euro payment account (‘waterfall functionality’). Such payment functionalities should be expressly authorized by online digital euro users. However, in order not to create disproportional burdens on payment service providers, online digital users should be allowed to automatically fund or defund their online di…

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 13 b (new): 13b. ‘offline Digital Euro’ means a Digital Euro registered in local storage devices;

Added:Recital 37: (37) While instruments employed by the Commission to limit an excessive use of the digital euro as a store of value aim at safeguarding financial stability and financial intermediation, they may nonetheless impact on and interact with the European Central Bank’s monetary policy stance. Such instruments would therefore need to be applied uniformly across the euro area in order to ensure the use of the digital euro as a single currency and the singleness of the monetary policy. Furthermore, a uniform application would be necessary to ensure a level playing field for payment service providers in the European single market or avoid an overly complex enforcement of any instrument through payment service providers on the basis of digital euro users’ residency. Within the framework of this Regulation, the digital euro should not bear interest for the purposes of primarily using the digital euro as a means of payment while limiting its use as a store of value.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 14: 14. ‘online Digital Euro payment transaction’ means a Digital Euro payment transaction where the transfer takes place with records in a transfer record;

Added:Recital 39: (39) Any limits to the store of value function that the Commission decided on should be binding on and implemented by the payment service providers distributing the digital euro. To avoid any potential risk to financial stability, digital euro holdings should be limited and maintained to the threshold which allows the use of the digital euro as a digital form of cash, in accordance with the principle of proportionality. For such purposes, legal persons should not maintain any holding limits, considering in particular the possibility of automatic defund from their offline digital euro devices to non-digital euro payment accounts, except in in the event of temporary network disruptions due to force majeure events in which they might be able to maintain holding without limits. As for natural persons, a delegated act, substantiated on technical grounds by a European Central Bank and Commission reports, will set the initial holding limits. While an online digital euro user may have one or more digital euro payment accounts at the same payment service provider or at different payment service providers, they should be subject to an individual holding limit that a digital euro user may allocate across different payment services providers. Payment service providers may offer online digital euro users the possibility to legally have a joint digital euro payment account. In this case, any holding limit applied to the joint digital euro payment account should be equal to the sum of the a…

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 19: 19. the ‘Digital Euro transfer infrastructure’ means the transfer infrastructure of the Digital Euro adopted by the Eurosystem;

Added:Recital 41 a (new): (41a) Payment service providers will have to make significant investments to integrate with the European Central Bank’s back-end for the provision of the online digital euro, which should be adequately compensated. The provision of the offline digital euro will involve lower investment costs for payment service providers, as no connection to the European Central Bank’s back-end is needed due to the absence of a central digital euro settlement infrastructure.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 25: 25. ‘comparable digital means of payment’ means digital means of payment, including debit card payments, credit card payments and instant payments at the point of interaction but excluding credit transfer and direct debit that are not initiated at the point of interaction;

Added:Recital 42: (42) As the digital euro is a form of the single currency having legal tender status, digital euro payment transactions should not be subject to excessive fees by payment service providers. In particular, granting the digital euro legal tender status, with the corollary of mandatory acceptance, means that merchants would have no choice but to accept digital euro payment transactions. Moreover, as payment services providers distributing the digital euro would not be in a position to charge fees to natural persons for basic digital euro payment services, an inter-PSP fee will be needed to provide compensation to those payment service providers for the distribution costs. It is therefore essential that a fee or a charge be objectively justified and proportionate to the objective of ensuring an effective use of the digital euro as a legal tender means of payment.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 26: 26. ‘switching’ means, upon a Digital Euro user’s request, transferring from one payment service provider to another either the information about all or some Digital Euro payment services, including recurring payments, executed on a Digital Euro wallet, or the Digital Euro holdings from one Digital Euro wallet to the other, or both, with or without closing the former Digital Euro wallet, while maintaining the same wallet identifier;

Added:Recital 43: (43) In order to avoid the legal tender obligation leading to higher acceptance costs caps should be based either on relevant cost of the distributing payment service providers for the provision of basic digital euro payment services for the inter-PSP fee and relevant costs of the acquiring payment service providers for the provision of basic acquiring services for the merchant service charge, or on comparable means of payment, with the lower of the two determining the cap for the inter-PSP fee and the merchant service charge after a transitional period. However, a cost-based cap lacks reliable and sufficiently stable data on unit costs during the adoption ramp up period in the first years after the issuance of the digital euro until the level of digital euro transaction stabilises. A transitional period should therefore be provided for. The transitional period should last for at least 10 years to provide enough certainty to all market participants about the adoption by citizens of digital euro services and, thus, unit costs.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 29: 29. ‘user authentication’ means a unique piece of information created by the payment service provider distributing the Digital Euro that together with the user identifier allows a Digital Euro user to prove ownership of the online Digital Euro holdings recorded in the Digital Euro transfer infrastructure, technical features of which allow a Digital Euro user to proof his holdings on its own, especially without a transfer infrastructure, as well as without payment service provider or any other third party;

Added:Recital 44: (44) During the transitional period, fees or charges should not be higher than those requested for comparable private digital means of payment. International card schemes regulated under Regulation (EU) 2015/751 of the European Parliament and the Council30, national card schemes, and instant payments at the point of interaction provided by payment service providers should be considered comparable means of payments.

Removed:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 31 a (new): 31a. ‘Governance Body of the Digital Euro rulebook’ means the institutional setting responsible for determining standards and rules required for facilitating Digital Euro payment services;

Added:Recital 45: (45) At the level of the individual merchant or payment service providers, no merchant or payment service provider should be charged higher fees compared to acquiring or distributing services for comparable digital means of payment that the payment service provider provides to the payee when receiving basic acquiring services or distributing the digital euro.

Removed:Article 4 a (new): Article 4a / The use of the Digital Euro under EU Digital Finance Framework / In accordance with the Treaties, the European Central Bank and the national central banks shall seek to ensure the smooth functioning of the payments and systems between financial intermediaries, payment service providers and other market participants to support the use of central bank money for financial market infrastructure activities under the Regulation (EU) 2022/858 of the European Parliament and the Council1 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. / 1 Regulation (EU) 2022/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology, and amending Regulations (EU) No 600/2014 and (EU) No 909/2014 and Directive 2014/65/EU (OJ L 151, 2.6.2022, p. 1).

Added:Recital 45 a (new): (45a) In order to ensure a transparent and level playing field between payment service providers and to avoid any hidden or duplicative costs for merchants, the total fees charged for digital euro payment transactions should be aggregated into a single merchant service charge. That merchant service charge should represent the totality of costs applied by payment service providers for acquiring services and should be expressed as a percentage of the total value of transactions processed over a given period, irrespective of the underlying pricing model. Payment service providers should not apply additional charges to merchants for automatic defunding operations related to digital euro payment accounts, where such transactions are executed with non-digital-euro payment accounts held with the same provider.

Removed:Article 4 b (new): Article 4b / Separation of the supervisory and Digital Euro tasks of the European Central Bank / 1. A clear separation shall be established between the monetary, supervisory and payment systems oversight tasks of the European Central Bank in accordance with Articles 119 to 144, 219 and 282 to 284 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and its activities in relation to the Digital Euro payment system. / 2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, a dedicated unit shall be established within the European Central Bank. This unit shall have exclusive competence to carry out the tasks of the European Central Bank related to the operation and management of a Digital Euro payment system and infrastructure. / 3. The unit referred to in paragraph 2 shall be independent in terms of accounting, organisation, and decision-making processes.

Added:Recital 45 b (new): (45b) The inter-PSP fee should provide sufficient compensation for the distribution costs of the distributing service providers.

Removed:Article 5 – title: Applicable law and governance

Added:Recital 46: deleted

Removed:Article 5 – paragraph 2: 2. Within the framework of this Regulation, the Digital Euro shall also be governed by the detailed design features, rules and standards that may be adopted by the European Central Bank pursuant to its own competences. Where these detailed design features, rules and standards have an impact on the protection of individuals’ rights and freedom with regard to the processing of personal data, the European Central Bank shall consult the European Data Protection Supervisor prior to their adoption.

Added:Recital 47: (47) An excessive distribution of the digital euro outside the euro area could have an unwanted impact on the size and composition of the consolidated balance sheet of the European Central Bank and national central banks. Impacts on monetary sovereignty and financial stability of non-euro area countries may also differ depending on the use of the digital euro outside the euro area. Those impacts could be harmful in case the digital euro replaces the local currency in a high number of domestic transactions. In particular, a situation in which the digital euro becomes dominant in a Member State whose currency is not the euro, thus de facto replacing the national currency, could interfere with the euro area adoption criteria and process set out in Article 140 TFEU. To avoid undesirable effects and prevent monetary sovereignty and financial stability risks, both within and outside the euro area, it is necessary to provide for the possibility for the Union to conclude agreements with third countries, and for the European Central Bank to conclude arrangements with the national central banks of Member States whose currency is not the euro and with the national central banks of third countries, to specify the conditions for the regular provision of digital euro payment services to digital euro users residing or established outside the euro area. Such agreements and arrangements should not cover visitors to the euro area, to whom payment service providers established in the European E…

Removed:Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. The European Central Bank shall support the establishment of the Governance Body of the Digital Euro rulebook. Its membership rules, internal organisation, and decision-making processes shall: / (a) reflect the structure and needs of the market for payment services; / (b) be aligned with established and evolving modes of self-regulation in the market for payment services and; / (c) be limited to facilitating requirements for interoperability according to the provisions of this Regulation, in particular as regards to points (a) to (d) of Annex I and point (e) of Annex II.

Added:Recital 51: (51) The use of the digital euro in cross-currency payments would facilitate cross-border payments for the purpose of trade or remittances, in line with the G20 agenda.

Removed:Article 5 – paragraph 3: 3. In accordance with Article 4(25) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 25 November 2015, on payment services in the internal market, as replaced by Directive (EU) [please insert reference – proposal for a Directive on payment services and electronic money services in the internal market - COM/2023/366 final] and Regulation (EU) [please insert reference – proposal for a Regulation on payment services in the internal market - COM/2023/367 final] of the European Parliament and of the Council, of XX/XX/2023, the provisions of that Directive shall apply to Digital Euro payment transactions, where appropriate.

Added:Recital 54: (54) The technical design of the digital euro should make it widely accessible to and usable by the general public. That design should, in particular, support access to financially excluded persons or persons at risk of financial exclusion, persons with disabilities by ensuring compliance with accessibility requirements laid down in Annex I of Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and the Council32 (European Accessibility Act), persons with functional limitations who would also benefit from accessibility, or persons with limited digital skills and elderly persons. For that purpose, the digital euro should have usage features that are simple and easy to handle, and should be sufficiently accessible through a wide range of hardware devices to cater for the needs of different groups of the population. Furthermore, payment service providers should provide digital euro users with digital euro payment services, regardless of those users holding non-digital euro payment accounts. In addition, those users should be allowed to have online digital euro payment accounts with payment service providers that are different from the ones with which they have non-digital euro payment accounts.

Removed:Article 9 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) where the payee does not accept comparable digital means of payment;

Added:Recital 55: (55) The online digital euro should support conditional digital euro payment transactions by payment service providers. The digital euro should, however, not be “programmable money”, which means units that, due to intrinsically defined spending conditions, can only be used for buying specific types of goods or services, or are subject to time limits after which they are no longer usable. Conditional payment transactions are payments which are automatically triggered by software based on pre-defined and agreed conditions. Conditional payments should not have, as object or effect, the use of digital euro as programmable money. Payment service providers could develop different types of logic to offer a range of conditional payment transactions to online digital euro users, such as automated payment transactions for placing or withdrawing digital euros, payment standing orders that trigger automatic payments of a specific amount on a specific date, and payments between machines where those machines are programmed to automatically trigger payments for their own spare parts upon ordering them, for charging and paying electricity at most favourable market conditions, for paying insurance, and leasing and maintenance fees on a usage basis.

Removed:Article 13 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b: (b) natural and legal persons who opened a Digital Euro wallet at the time they resided or were established in the Member States whose currency is the euro, but no longer reside or are established in such Member States;