Circular SINAP 1-229: Travel with QR (VQR)

"Año de la Reconstrucción de la Nación Argentina" "Año de la Reconstrucción de la Nación Argentina"

COMUNICACIÓN “A” 8206 27/02/2025

TO FINANCIAL ENTITIES,
TO PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS THAT OFFER PAYMENT ACCOUNTS, TO PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS THAT FULFILL THE INITIATION FUNCTION:
Ref.: Circular
SINAP 1-229:
Travel with QR (VQR).

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We address you to inform you that this Institution adopted the resolution that, in its pertinent part, establishes:

“1. It is ordered that financial entities and payment service providers that offer payment accounts (PSPCP) or that fulfill the initiation function (PSI), who wish to offer their clients the possibility to pay for public transport via payments initiated with QR codes (“travel with QR”, VQR) must:
a. use the QR code regulated in point 4.1. of the consolidated text on National Payment System – Payment Services in its “consumer presented” modality; b. allow payment by debit in checking or payment accounts;
c. be registered as an interoperable digital wallet;
d. have obtained from the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina the authorization to offer VQR; and e. comply with what the regulation of the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina and the Bulletins of the Interbank Commission for Payment Means of the Republic Argentina (CIMPRA) establish, including the technical specifications of the QR codes and the operational flows to be applied, not being able to offer any other functionality for that purpose that uses a QR code.

2. It is established that any scheme that allows accepting public transport payments through the reading of QR codes – VQR scheme – can only accept travel requests generated by interoperable digital wallets that have been authorized by the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina to offer their clients to pay with VQR.

3. It is ordered that any VQR scheme administrator – QR administrator – must be previously registered to perform that function in the “Registry of Payment Service Providers” of the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina, for which purpose they must comply with the provisions of points 2.2. to 2.4. of the consolidated text on “Payment Service Providers”, with the exception of what is requested in point 2.2.2.10.

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4. It is established that any interoperable digital wallet that wishes to offer its clients the possibility to generate VQR that are processed by a specific QR administrator must previously request authorization from the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina to provide said service in that scheme.
   To obtain the authorization, it must, through the application of the “Registry of Payment Service Providers”, supply a certification stating that it successfully integrated with that QR administrator, which must be registered with the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina.

5. It is ordered that any QR administrator must integrate with any interoperable digital wallet that requests it within a period of 30 (thirty) business days from the day it receives the request, and extend the certification required in point 4 of this communication.

6. It is established that any interoperable digital wallet must integrate with any QR administrator that requests it within a period of 30 (thirty) business days from the day it receives the request, which will extend to the wallet the certification required in point 4 of this communication.

7. The certification required in point 4 of this communication must be extended by the legal representative of the QR administrator and must affirm – under oath – that the interoperable digital wallet in question integrated with its scheme and that, therefore, the QR codes generated by the wallet are in a condition to be used by the general public to pay for public transport with the scheme it administers.
   The QR administrator must extend such certification, at the latest, within 5 (five) business days from the completion of the tests that accredit the aforementioned integration, and the wallet must, within 5 (five) business days of receipt, process the corresponding authorization through the application of the “Registry of Payment Service Providers”.

8. Any QR administrator must enable at least one email address to receive and process integration requests from interoperable digital wallets, which must be reported to the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina through the application of the “Registry of Payment Service Providers”.

9. It establishes the following functions and responsibilities of the participants in VQR schemes:
   a. QR Administrator: manage payments. It is responsible for:
   − Reading any QR code that the client of a wallet with which it has integrated displays to the validator.
   − Requesting, based on the information obtained from the QR code, authorization of the trip from the issuing digital wallet of the code.
   − Requesting daily from each interoperable digital wallet the funds corresponding to the settled trips.

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− Transferring daily to each transport operator – company authorized for passenger transport – the funds corresponding to the settled trips. b. Interoperable Digital Wallet: generate the QR code that must be displayed on its interface to be read by the transport validator. It is responsible for:
− Displaying on its interface a highlighted VQR button, which allows generating the QR code and which is differentiated from the one that allows paying with transfer payment (PCT).
− Responding to all travel authorization requests received from QR administrators with which the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina has authorized it to operate.
− Immediately debiting the funds from the accounts of clients whose travel request it authorizes, accumulating them until the end of the day – bilaterally agreed or established in CIMPRA – on which it must transfer them to each QR administrator. Both the debit of the client's funds and their accumulation and subsequent transfer to the QR administrator may be delegated to a processor.

10. It establishes that the remaining technical specifications of the VQR will be included in Bulletins of the Interbank Commission for Payment Means of the Republic Argentina (CIMPRA).

11. It orders that until the application of the “Registry of Payment Service Providers” has been adapted, the requirements established in this communication will be fulfilled by sending the requested documentation and information to the email address sdep_vigilancia_estadisticas@bcra.gob.ar.

12. It establishes that the VQR may be available for use by the public starting from 12/05/25 and that interoperable digital wallets may only offer it from that date.

13. It repeals the resolution disseminated through Communication A 8138.”

We salute you attentively.
CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC ARGENTINA
Matías A. Gutiérrez Girault Luis A. D´Orio
Manager of
Payment Systems
Principal Manager of Payment Systems and Current Accounts