EN ECB -PUBLIC  
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 17 December 2019 
on payment services  and payment systems  
(CON/20 19/45) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 11 November  2019  the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Bulgarian Minister 
for Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on payment services and payment systems  
and other laws (hereinafter the ‘draft law’ )1. 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the fifth indent  of Article  2(1) of Council Decision  98/415/EC2, as 
the draft law relates to payment and settlement  systems . In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article  17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion.  
 
1. Purpose of the draft law  
1.1 The consulting authority explains that the draft law aims to transpos e into national law  the 
Corrigendum to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council3, and to 
implement certain measures of other Union legal acts adopted in connection to Directive (EU) 
2015/2366 , notably Regulation (EU) 2 019/518 of the European  Parliament and of the Council4. 
1.2 According to the consulting authority, t he draft law also includes measures to extend and 
strengthen the supervision of payment services and payment system s. 
1.3 Thus, t he draft law5 provides that any person acquir ing a minimum of  three percent of the shares  of 
or voting rights in a payment institution  or an electronic money i nstitut ion authorised by Българска 
народна банка  (BNB, Bulgarian National Bank ) shall notify BNB  within seven  days thereof and 
submit  the required information. In the event of an incomplete  submission  of information , or if BNB 
considers the influence exercised by  a shareholder is likely to be detriment al to the soundness and 
                                                 
1  Закон  за изменение и допълнение на Закона за платежните услуги и платежните системи  
2  Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29  June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42).  
3  Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services 
in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/E C, 2009/110/EC and 20 13/36/EU and Regulation (EU) 
No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC ( OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).  
4  Regulation (EU) 2019/518 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19  March 2019 amending 
Regulation  (EC) No 924/2009 as regards certain charges on cross -border payments in the Union and currency 
conversion charges (OJ L 91, 29.3.2019, p. 36) . 
5  Proposed new Articles 14a and 44a of the Law on payment services and payment systems . 
ECB -PUBLIC  
2 security of that institution  or the payment services provided by it , BNB is empowered to temporar ily 
suspend the voting rights of th at person and/or to order them to divest th ose shares within 30 days.  
1.4 The draft law6 further provides that payment service provider s must charge payment service  users 
equal fees for cross -border payments in euro within the Union and for payments in Bulgarian lev 
within Bulgaria  which are of equal value and have identical characteristics in terms of initiating, 
executing and s ettling the payment . 
1.5 The draft law7 provides that (i) the clearing and settlement of payment transactions in Bulgarian lev 
related to card payment s shall take place in settlement finality systems that process card -based 
payment transactions  and (ii) the net settlement of the same payment transactions shall take place 
in the real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) operated by BNB (RINGS)  when  both of the 
following  conditions are met: ( a) the payment card issuers are payment services providers 
authorised by BNB or are branches of payment services providers within the territory of Bulgaria 
and ( b) the point of sale or the automat ed teller machine ( ATM ) is within the territory of Bulgaria . 
1.6 The draft law also provides for a number of other miscellaneous amend ments, including periodic 
reporting by payment service providers that benefit from a licence exemption ; more detailed rules 
regarding the exemptions from  strong  customer authentication , as laid down in  Commission 
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/3898; and an extended statute of limitations for the investigation 
of breaches of the Law on payment services and payment systems and increased administrative 
penalties for such breaches . 
 
2. Specific observations  
2.1 The ECB notes that when the two conditions mentioned in paragraph 1.5 are fulfilled, the clearing 
and settlement of such payment transactions will always be done by an operator of a settlement 
finality system with access to RINGS . The ECB understands that  this restriction regarding  card-
based  payment transactions in Bulgarian lev  is aimed at ensuring that such retail  payments, which 
are deemed to be closely linked to the territory of Bulgaria, are cleared and settled in central bank 
money through RINGS. This restriction should be considered in the light of the principle o f open 
and non -discriminatory access to payment systems , as enshrined in Union legislation9 and in 
international standards10. In this regard the ECB understands that the restriction would not hamper  
cross -border acquiring of card-based payment transactions denominated in Bulgarian lev. To this 
end and for the purpose of cross -border acquiring of card-based payment transactions , the 
participation of payment service providers that (a) are authorised in other Member States and ( b) 
                                                 
6  Proposed revised Arti cle 68(6) of the Law on payment services and payment systems . 
7  Proposed new Article 148a of the Law on payment services and payment systems . 
8  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389 of 27 November 2017 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of 
the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards for strong customer 
authentication and common and secure open standards of communication (OJ L 69, 13.3.2018, p. 23).  
9  See, for example, Article 35 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 and Article 16 of Regulation of the European Central Bank 
(EU) No 795/2014  of 3 July 2014 on oversight requirements for systemically important payment systems 
(ECB/2014/28)  (OJ L 217, 23.7.2014, p. 16) . 
10  See Princip les for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs) available at https://www.bis.org/cpmi/info_pfmi.htm . The 
PFMIs were transposed in Bulgarian law by Article 141 of the Law on payment services and paymen t systems and 
Ordinance No. 16 of the BNB of 29 March 2018.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
3 provide payment services in Bulgaria without a branch into settlement finality systems that process 
card-based payment transactions and perform net settlement in RINGS should not be prohibited 
and non -discrimin ation of the payment system participants should be ensured.  
2.2 The ECB moreover understands that the same restriction aims to supp ort the transposition of  
Directive (EU) 2015/2366 into national law with a view to reinforcing the protection of consumers 
from p otential additional charges stemming from unexpected currency conversions related to  the 
processing of card-based payment transactions mentioned in paragraph 1. 5. In this regard, the 
ECB notes that Directive (EU) 2015/2366  alread y contains rules on currency conversion and 
information on charges11, which the ECB understands were already transposed by the Law on 
payment services and payment systems12. 
2.2 Although credit institutions (alongside  payment institutions and electronic money institutions ) are 
considered payment services providers  for the purposes of the Law on payment services and 
payment systems13, the ECB understands that acquisitions of shares or voting rights in credit 
institutions  by any person will fall outside the scope of the notification requirement as laid down  in 
the draft law  regarding the acquisition of a certain shareholding in payment institutions and 
electronic money institutions14. Such acquisitions of shares or voting rights in credit instituti ons are 
already regulated in the Bulgarian Law on credit institutions15. 
2.3 Finally, t he ECB understands that the proposed amendment regarding the charge s for cross -border 
payments in euro within the Union  is intended to avoid any possible conflicts between the existing 
Law on payment services and payment systems and Regulation (EC) No 924/2009  as amended by 
Regulation (EU) 2019/51816. 
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 17 December  2019 . 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Christine LAGARDE  
                                                 
11  Article s 59 and  60 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 . 
12  Articles 50 and 51 of the Law on payment services and payment systems . 
13  See Article 3 (1) of the Law on payment services and payment systems, which distinguishes between different 
payment services providers for the purposes of the law, namely (i) banks within the meaning of the Law on Credit 
Institutions; (ii) electronic money institutions wit hin the meaning of that law ; (iii) payment institutions within the 
meaning of this Law; (iv) account information service providers within the meaning of that law ; (v) the European 
Central Bank and the national central banks of Member States, when not actin g in their capacity as monetary 
authorit ies or other public authorities.  
14  Proposed new Articles 14a and 44a of the Law on payment services and payment systems.  
15  Article 32 of the Law on credit institutions.  
16  Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on cross -border 
payments in the Community and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 (OJ L 266, 9.10.2009, p. 11).