Notice No. 4/2024

Notice No. 4/2024
Published in: Official Gazette, 2nd Series, Part E, No. 224, of 19-11-2024 Mod. 99999939/T – 01/14

Index
Text of the Notice

Text of the Notice

The payment service models associated with operations using payment references and direct debits have undergone increasing complexity, accompanied by a reduction in security and transparency in the information provided to their users. The involvement of several payment service providers in processing these operations, specifically by intermediating the payment operation between the payer's payment service provider and the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds, makes it difficult to clearly identify the latter beneficiary. This difficulty in identifying the ultimate beneficiary of the funds has negative consequences in the resolution of disputes, encourages the practice of fraud and deception crimes through the use of these payment services, and causes, in some cases, significant financial damage to the payers of the operations. To ensure the proper functioning and security of payment systems, it is necessary to strengthen the transparency and trust of payers when carrying out payment operations using payment references and direct debits. This Notice aims to address this need, establishing the obligation for payment service providers to make available to payers, in payment operations executed using payment references and direct debits, the name or business name of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds and their respective payment service provider. This Notice was subject to public consultation, in accordance with Article 101 of the Administrative Procedure Code. Thus, in the exercise of the competence conferred upon it by Articles 14 and 17 of its Organic Law, approved by Law No. 5/98, of January 31, in its current wording, the Bank of Portugal approves the following Notice:

Notice No. 4/2024
Mod. 99999939/T – 01/14

CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.
Object and scope of application
1 - This Notice regulates the obligation of the payer's payment service provider to make available to the payer the identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds and their respective payment service provider, in the following payment services:
a) Payment operations executed using a payment reference; and b) Direct debits.
2 - The obligation referred to in the preceding paragraph applies to payment operations in which a payment account domiciled with a payment service provider established in Portugal is debited.
3 - The payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds must provide the payer's payment service provider with the information referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
4 - Whenever the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds is not established in Portugal, the obligation provided for in paragraph 3 of this Article falls on the intermediary payment service provider when it is established in Portugal.

Article 2.
Definitions
1 - For the purposes of this Notice, the following are understood to be:
a) "Direct Debit Mandate", the agreement between the debtor (payer) and the creditor (beneficiary) of direct debits that enables the creditor to initiate collections intended to debit the debtor's payment account through their payment service provider; b) "Ultimate beneficiary of the funds", the person or persons, natural or legal, to whom the funds resulting from the execution of the payment operation are ultimately destined; the creditor, in direct debits; c) "Payment operation executed using a payment reference", a service based on the infrastructure and commercial rules of a card payment system or another payment model, in which operations are initiated by the payer using a payment reference; d) "Payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds", the payment service provider that provides the payment service to the ultimate beneficiary of the funds; e) "Intermediary payment service provider", the payment service provider that, based on contracts established with the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds, intermediates the payment operation between the payer's payment service provider and the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds; f) "Payment reference", the set of characters provided by the beneficiary to the payer so that the payer, with their payment service provider, initiates a specific payment operation using a specific payment solution. 2 - Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the definitions contained in the Legal Regime of Payment Services and Electronic Money, approved in annex to Decree-Law No. 91/2018, of November 12, in its current wording, are applicable within the scope of this Notice.

CHAPTER II
PROVISION OF INFORMATION

Article 3.
Payment operations executed using a payment reference 1 - The payer's payment service provider is responsible for making available to the payer, based on the information provided by the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds or by the intermediary payment service provider:
a) The identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds; b) The identification of the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds.
2 - The information referred to in the preceding paragraph must appear in the query and statement of movements of the payer's payment account.
3 - The identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds must also be made available to the payer prior to the execution of the payment operation.

Article 4.
Direct debit
1 - The payer's payment service provider (of the debtor) is responsible for making available to the payer (the debtor), based on the information provided by the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds (of the creditor) or by the intermediary payment service provider:
a) The identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds; b) The identification of the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds.
2 - The information referred to in the preceding paragraph must be made available to the payer, regarding each collection, in the query and statement of movements of the payer's payment account.
3 - The identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds must also be made available to the payer in the information relating to the direct debit mandate.
4 - The identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds must appear in the field <Direct Debit Transaction Information><Ultimate Creditor><Name> of the "FI to FI Customer Direct Debit" message (pacs.003) established in the "SEPA Direct Debit Inter-PSP Implementation Guidelines", or, if not filled, in the field <Direct Debit Transaction Information><Creditor><Name> of the same message.

Article 5.
Identification
1 - The identification of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds corresponds to the name by which the natural or legal person to whom the funds of the payment operation executed using a payment reference or direct debit are destined identifies themselves to the payer, namely their commercial or corporate name. 2 - The identification of the payment service provider of the ultimate beneficiary of the funds corresponds to the commercial or corporate name of the institution.

Article 6.
Charges
It is prohibited for payment service providers to charge any fees associated with the provision of information within the scope of this Notice to the payer, the beneficiary, or another payment service provider.

CHAPTER III
FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 7.
Sanctioning regime
Violation of the provisions of this Notice is punishable in accordance with the provisions of paragraph m) of Article 210 of the General Regime of Credit Institutions and Financial Companies.

Article 8.
Entry into force
This Notice enters into force 180 days after its publication.

Notice No. 4/2024
Mod. 99999939/T – 01/14

November 5, 2024. - The Governor, Mário Centeno.