AIME, PPP and the UK Treasury have won a number of key inclusions in the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) that – should it be ratified by the EU Council and Parliament – protect PRS providers from losing vast amounts of revenue.
PSD2, which is under final stages of discussion inside the EU Council, carries an exemption from Payment Service Provider licensing for Telecom Operators who pass money through the value chain for premium rate services. This exemption was considerably narrowed from PSD1 and risked nearly half of the existing services on offer through limiting the range of services and values that can be offered.
Working closely with each other and the EU, AIME, PPP and the Treasury have won the following inclusions into the exemption text:
1) Premium rate voice services including entertainment, directory enquiries, information and purchase of digital content.
2) Digital Services (as well as content)
3) Tickets for transport and entertainment with the possible inclusion of other replacements for current paper based tickets.
4) Charity donations.
All these are to an increased maximum value of €50 per transaction and €200 per month.
This movement from the EU Council members – who were working to limit or even remove the exemption – is as a result of close working with Treasury and other EU Telecom entities and EU Telecom regulators for them to also lobby their respective Treasury equivalents. The value to UK PLC is approximately £300million a year.
Watch this space: once the final exemption text has been issued by UK Treasury, including the definitions, we will update you.
