Q&A on Payment Service Provision and Payment Transactions Which Are Not Self-Contained

Q&A

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Question:

Can an entity be considered to “operate as a payment service provider” within the meaning of Section 1:1 of the Wft if it executes payment transactions on behalf of customers that are part of other business activities not related to the provision of payment services?

Published: 11 February 2019

Answer:

'Operating as a payment service provider' means providing payment services on behalf of a payer or payee as a separately identifiable activity. This means the activity must be separate and not inextricably linked to another activity unrelated to payment services.

The following professional groups that execute payment transactions do not qualify as payment service providers offering payment services as a separately identifiable activity:

Civil-law notaries within the meaning of Section 1(1), opening words and under a, of the Civil-Law Notaries Act (Wet op het notarisambt), if they hold funds in an account within the meaning of Section 25 of that act

Bailiffs within the meaning of Section 1(1), opening words and under d, of the Bailiffs Act (Gerechtsdeurwaarderswet), if they hold funds in an account within the meaning of Section 19 of that act

Attorneys-at-law: customer accounts foundations whose sole activity is the temporary management of funds for beneficiaries and that only work for attorneys-at-law who have no entitlement to the funds, which fact must be evidenced by written agreements between the foundations and the relevant attorneys-at-law

Tax representatives operating under a general or limited licence within the meaning of Section 24c(4) and (5) of the Decree implementing the 1968 VAT Act (Uitvoeringsbesluit omzetbelasting 1968) if they hold funds in their capacity of a tax withholding agent.

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