2026-08-27
Added
This Regulation, approved by the Board of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo on August 27, 2026, establishes requirements for payment service providers (PSPs) concerning credit transfer and direct debit transactions in euro within Kosovo and between Kosovo and the SEPA area. PSPs must use specific payment account identifiers (BBAN or IBAN) and ISO 20022 XML message formats for these transactions. The regulation mandates that PSPs offering credit transfers must also offer instant credit transfers, ensuring all reachable accounts are accessible 24 hours a day, any calendar day, with payee's PSPs making funds available within 10 seconds. It also grants payers rights to limit direct debit collections, verify transactions, and block or authorize specific direct debits, and requires payer's PSPs to offer a payee verification service for credit transfers.
1 of 15 Pursuant to Article 35, paragraph 1 subparagraph 1.1 and Article 65 of the Law No. 03/L-209 on Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo (Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo, No.77 / 16 August 2010), amended and supplemented by Law No. 05/L –150 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo / No. 10 / 03 April 2017) and pursuant to Section III and IV, as well as Article 62 paragraph 6, Article 136 and Article 137 of Law No. 10/L-026 on Payment Services (Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo, No.10 / 14 May 2026) , and Article 8 paragraph 1 subparagraph 1.1 and paragraph 2 subparagraph 2.3 of Law No. 04/L-155 on Payment Systems (Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo No. 12/03, May 2013), the Board of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo, at the meeting held on August 27, 2026, approved the following: REGULATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR CREDIT TRANSFERS AND DIRECT DEBITS TRANSACTIONS IN EURO Article 1 Purpose and Scope
2 of 15 1.3. payment transactions through a payment card or similar device, including cash withdrawals, unless the payment card or similar device is used only to generate the information required to directly make a credit transfer or direct debit to and from a payment account identified by BBAN or IBAN; 1.4. payment transactions by means of any telecommunication, digital or ICT device, if such payment transactions do not result in a credit transfer or direct debit to and from a payment account identified by BBAN or IBAN; 1.5. transactions of money remittance as defined in subparagraph 1.21 of paragraph 1 of Article 4 of Law No. 10/L-026 on Payment Services; 1.6. payment transactions transferring electronic money, unless such transactions result in a credit transfer or direct debit to and from a payment account identified by BBAN or IBAN. 2. Where payment schemes are based on payment transactions by credit transfers or direct debits but have additional optional features or services, this Regulation applies only to the underlying credit transfers or direct debits. Article 3 Definitions
3 of 15 1.10. “payee” means a natural or legal person who is the intended recipient of funds which have been the subject of a payment transaction; 1.11. “payment system” means a funds transfer system with formal and standardized arrangements and common rules for the processing, clearing or settlement of payment transactions; 1.12. “payment scheme” means a single set of rules, practices, standards and/or implementation guidelines agreed between PSPs for the execution of payment transactions within Kosovo and across the SEPA area, and which is separated from any infrastructure or payment system that supports its operation; 1.13. “PSU” or “payment service user” means a natural or legal person making use of a payment service in the capacity of payer or payee; 1.14. “BBAN” means a payment account number identifier, which unambiguously identifies an individual payment account with a PSP in Kosovo; 1.15. “IBAN” means an international payment account number identifier, which unambiguously identifies an individual payment account, the elements of which are specified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO); 1.16. “BIC” means a business identifier code that unambiguously identifies a PSP, the elements of which are specified by the ISO; 1.17. “ISO 20022 XML standard” means a standard for the development of electronic financial messages as defined by the ISO, encompassing the physical representation of the payment transactions in XML syntax, in accordance with applicable business rules and implementation guidelines of Kosovo or SEPA schemes for payment transactions falling within the scope of this Regulation; 1.18. “large-value payment system” means a payment system the main purpose of which is to process, clear or settle single payment transactions of high priority and urgency, and primarily of large amount; 1.19. “settlement date” means a date on which obligations with respect to the transfer of funds are discharged between the payer’s PSP and the payee’s PSP; 1.20. “collection” means a part of a direct debit transaction starting from its initiation by the payee until its end through the normal debiting of the payer’s payment account; 1.21. “mandate” means the expression of consent and authorization given by the payer to the payee and (directly or indirectly via the payee) to the payer’s PSP to allow the payee to initiate a collection for debiting the payer’s specified payment account and to allow the payer’s PSP to comply with such instructions; 1.22. “retail payment system” means a payment system the main purpose of which is to process, clear or settle credit transfers or direct debits which are primarily of small amount, and that is not a large-value payment system; 1.23. “cross-border payment transaction” means an electronically processed payment transaction initiated by a payer, or by or through a payee, where one of the PSP involved in the transaction, either the payer’s PSP or the payee’s PSP, is located in the Republic of Kosovo and the other PSP is located in another country or territory within the SEPA area; 1.24. “national payment transaction” means a payment transaction initiated by a payer or by a payee, where the payer’s PSP and the payee’s PSP are both located in Kosovo; 1.25. “reference party” means a natural or legal person on behalf of whom a payer makes a payment, or a payee receives a payment;
4 of 15 1.26. “CBK” means the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo; 1.27. “SEPA” means the Single Euro Payments Area; 1.28. “SEPA area” means the geographical scope of the SEPA schemes as determined by the criteria established by the EPC; 1.29."SEPA member" means a country or territory included in the SEPA area; 1.30."SEPA payment" means a credit transfers, instant credit transfers and direct debit transaction in euro conducted under a SEPA scheme as established by the EPC. 1.31. “SEPA payment scheme” for purpose of this Regulation, means a harmonized set of business rules, technical standards and procedures governing the execution of credit transfers, direct debits and instant credit transfers denominated in euro at inter-PSP level within the SEPA area; 1.32. “fee”- means any amount charged to a PSU by a PSP, directly or indirectly linked to a payment transaction, including any amount charged to a PSU by a PSP or by a party providing currency exchange services in accordance with Article 59 of the Law on Payment Services, for a currency exchange service, or a combination thereof; 1.33. “corresponding national payment” means a national credit transfer, instant credit transfer or direct debit transaction executed within the Republic of Kosovo which corresponds to the relevant SEPA payment in terms of payment instrument, priority, amount threshold, initiation channel, execution modality and applicable fees. 1.34. “funds’ means banknotes and coins, scriptural money and electronic money 1.35. “instant credit transfer” means a credit transfer which is executed immediately, 24 hours a day and on any calendar day; 1.36. “verification of the payee” means a service ensuring verification of the payee to whom the payer intends to send a credit transfer; 1.37. “consumer” means a natural person acting for purposes other than his or her trade, business or profession; 1.38. “payment initiation service provider” means a PSP pursuing providing payment initiation services as defined in the Law on Payment Services; 1.39. “Targeted financial restrictive measure” means Targeted Financial Sanctions as defined in the Law on Implementation of Targeted International Financial Sanction. 1.40. “EPC” means the European Payments Council; 1.41. “ISO” means the International Organization for Standardization; 1.42. “EBA” means the European Banking Authority; 1.43. “Law on Payment Services” means Law No. 10/L-026 on Payment Services. 1.44. “Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism” means the legislation in force on the prevention of money laundering and the combating the financing of terrorism. 2. Unless otherwise specifically provided for in the previous paragraph, for the purposes of this Regulation and any other measure implementing it, terms used shall have the same meaning as defined in the Law on Payment Services.
5 of 15 Article 4 Requirements for executing credit transfer and direct debit transactions
6 of 15 4.4.2. where a mandate under a payment scheme does not provide for the right to a refund, to verify each direct debit transaction, and to check whether the amount and periodicity of the submitted direct debit transaction is equal to the amount and periodicity agreed in the mandate, before debiting their payment account, based on the mandate-related information; 4.4.3. to block any direct debits to the payer’s payment account or to block any direct debits initiated by one or more specified payees or to authorize direct debits only initiated by one or more specified payees. 4.5. where neither the payer nor the payee is a consumer, PSPs are not required to comply with subparagraph 4.4, sub-subparagraphs 4.4.1, 4.4.2 or 4.4.3 of this Regulation. 4.6. the payer’s PSP shall inform the payer of the rights referred to in subparagraph 4.4 in accordance with Articles 51 and 52 of the Law No. 10/L-026 on Payment Services. 4.7. Upon the first direct debit transaction or a one-off direct debit transaction and upon each subsequent direct debit transaction, the payee shall send the mandate-related information to his PSP and the payee’s PSP shall transmit that mandate-related information to the payer’s PSP with each direct debit transaction. 5. In addition to the requirements referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Regulation, the payee accepting credit transfers shall communicate its payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex I to its payers, when a credit transfer is requested. 6. Before the first direct debit transactions, a payer shall communicate its payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex I. 7. Where the framework agreement between the payer and the payer’s PSP does not provide for the right to a refund, the payer’s PSP shall, without prejudice to sub-subparagraph 4.1.2 above, verify each direct debit transaction to check whether the amount of the submitted direct debit transaction is equal to the amount and periodicity agreed in the mandate before debiting the payer’s payment account, based on the mandate-related information. 8. PSPs shall not require PSUs to indicate the BIC of the PSP of a payer or of the PSP of a payee. 9. The payer’s PSP and the payee’s PSP shall not levy additional charges or other fees on the readout process to automatically generate a mandate for those payment transactions initiated through or by means of a payment card at the point of sale, which result in direct debit. Article 5 Instant credit transfer transactions
7 of 15 4. For the purpose of executing instant payments, if the payer and the payer’s PSP agree that execution of the payment order for an instant credit transfer is to take place at a specific time on a specific day or at the moment when the payer has put funds at the disposal of the PSP, the time of receipt of the payment order for an instant credit transfer shall be deemed to be the agreed time, regardless of the hour or calendar day. 5. By way of derogation from paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article, the time of receipt of the payment order for an instant credit transfer shall be: 5.1 for a non-electronic payment order for an instant credit transfer, the moment when the payer’s PSP has introduced the payment order information into its internal system, which shall occur as soon as possible after the nonelectronic payment order for an instant credit transfer has been placed by the payer with the payer’s PSP; 5.2 for an individual payment order for an instant credit transfer belonging to a package as referred to in paragraph 9 of this Article, where the conversion of that package into individual payment transactions is carried out by the payer’s PSP, the moment when the ensuing payment transaction has been unpacked by the payer’s PSP; the payer’s PSP shall start the conversion of the package immediately after it has been placed by the payer with the payer’s PSP and complete that conversion as soon as possible; 5.3 for a payment order for an instant credit transfer from payment accounts that are not denominated in euro, the moment when the amount of the payment transaction has been converted into euro; such currency conversion shall take place immediately after the payment order for an instant credit transfer has been placed by the payer with the payer’s PSP. 6. When carrying out instant credit transfers, PSPs shall, in addition to the requirements set out in Article 4 of this Regulation, comply with the following requirements. 6.1 PSPs shall ensure that payers are able to place a payment order for an instant credit transfer through all of the same payment initiation channels as the ones through which those payers are able to place a payment order for other credit transfers; 6.2 immediately after the time of receipt of a payment order for an instant credit transfer, the payer’s PSP shall verify whether all of the necessary conditions for processing the payment transaction are met and whether the necessary funds are available, reserve or debit the amount of the payment transaction from the account of the payer, and immediately send the payment transaction to the payee’s PSP; 6.3 the payee’s PSP shall, within 10 seconds of the time of receipt of the payment order for an instant credit transfer by the payer’s PSP, make the amount of the payment transaction available on the payee’s payment account in the currency in which the payee’s account is denominated and confirm the completion of the payment transaction to the payer’s PSP; 6.4 the payee’s PSP shall ensure that the credit value date for the payee’s payment account is the same date as the date on which the payee’s payment account is credited by the payee’s PSP with the amount of the payment transaction; and 6.5 immediately upon receiving the confirmation of completion referred to in subparagraph 6.3 of this paragraph, or where no such confirmation of completion is received by the payer’s PSP within 10 seconds of the time of receipt of the payment order for an instant credit transfer, the payer’s PSP shall, free of charge, inform the payer, as well as, where applicable, the payment initiation service provider, whether the amount of the payment transaction has been made available on the payee’s payment account.
8 of 15 7. For the purpose of executing instant payments, where the payer’s PSP has not received a message from the payee’s PSP confirming that the funds were made available on the payee’s payment account within 10 seconds of the time of receipt, the payer’s PSP shall immediately restore the payment account of the payer to the state in which it would have been had the transaction not taken place. 8. Upon the request of the PSU, a PSP shall offer a PSU the possibility of setting a limit fixing a maximum amount that can be sent by means of instant credit transfer. That limit may be either on a per day or per transaction basis, at the sole discretion of the PSU. PSPs shall ensure that PSUs are able to modify that maximum amount at any time prior to the placing of a payment order for an instant credit transfer. Where a PSU’s payment order for an instant credit transfer exceeds, or leads to exceeding of, the maximum amount, the payer’s PSP shall not execute the payment order for the instant credit transfer, shall notify the PSU thereof and shall inform the PSU as to how to modify the maximum amount. 9. When offering the payment service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers, PSPs shall offer their PSUs the possibility of submitting multiple payment orders as a package if PSPs offer such possibility to their PSUs for other credit transfers. PSPs shall not impose limits on the number of payment orders that can be submitted in a package of instant credit transfers which are lower than the limits they impose in respect of packages of other credit transfers. Article 6 Verification of the payee in the case of credit transfers
9 of 15 in point (1)(a) of the Annex I to this Regulation together with data elements other than the name of the payee that unambiguously identify the payee, such as a Unique Identification Number, specified on the national legal framework, and where those same data elements are available in the internal system of the payee’s PSP, that PSP, upon the request of the payer’s PSP, shall verify whether the payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex I to this Regulation and the data element provided by the payer match. Where the payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex I to this Regulation and the data element provided by the payer do not match, the payer’s PSP shall, based on information provided by the payee’s PSP, notify the payer thereof; 1.3 where a payment account identified through a payment account identifier specified in paragraph 1 point (a) of the Annex I provided by the payer is held by a PSP on behalf of multiple payees, additional information allowing the payee to be unambiguously identified may be provided by the payer to the payer’s PSP. The PSP maintaining that payment account on behalf of multiple payees or, where appropriate, the PSP holding that payment account, shall, upon the request of the payer’s PSP, confirm whether the payee indicated by the payer is among the multiple payees on whose behalf the payment account is maintained or held. The payer’s PSP shall notify the payer if the payee indicated by the payer is not among the multiple payees on whose behalf the payment account is maintained or held. 1.4 in cases other than those set out in subparagraphs 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 of this paragraph, and, in particular, where a PSP provides a payment initiation channel which does not require the payer to insert both the payment account identifier specified in paragraph 1 point (a) of the Annex I and the name of the payee, the PSP shall ensure that the payee to whom the payer intends to send a credit transfer is correctly identified. For that purpose, the PSP shall inform the payer in a way that allows the payer to validate the payee before authorizing the credit transfer. 2. Where the payment account identifier specified in paragraph 1 point (a) of the Annex I or the name of the payee is provided by a payment initiation service provider, rather than by the payer, that payment initiation service provider shall ensure that the information concerning the payee is correct 3. PSPs, for the purposes of paragraph 1, subparagraph 1.4, and payment initiation service providers, for the purposes of paragraph 2, shall maintain robust internal procedures to ensure that the information concerning payees is correct. 4. In the case of paper-based payment orders, the payer’s PSP shall perform the service ensuring verification at the time of receipt of the payment order, unless the payer is not present at the time of receipt. 5. PSPs shall ensure that the performance of the service ensuring verification and of the service described in paragraph 2 does not prevent payers from authorizing the credit transfer concerned. 6. PSP shall provide PSUs that are not consumers with the means to opt out from receiving the service ensuring verification when submitting multiple payment orders as a package: 6.1. PSPs shall ensure that PSUs that opted out from receiving the service ensuring verification have the right to opt in at any time to receive that service. 7. Whenever the payer's PSP notifies the payer in accordance with paragraph 1, subparagraph 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 of this Regulation, that PSP shall at the same time inform the payer that authorizing the credit transfer might lead to transferring the funds to a payment account not held by the payee
10 of 15 indicated by the payer. A PSP shall provide that information to the PSU that is not a consumer when that PSU opts out from receiving the service ensuring verification when submitting multiple payment orders as a package. PSPs shall inform their PSUs of the implications for PSP liability and PSU refund rights resulting from a decision by PSUs to ignore a notification as referred to in paragraph 1, subparagraph 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 of this Regulation. 8. A PSP shall not be held liable for the execution of a credit transfer to an unintended payee on the basis of an incorrect unique identifier, as laid down in Article 88 of Law on Payment Services, provided that it has fulfilled the requirements of this Article. 8.1 Where the payer’s PSP fails to comply with paragraph 1 of this Article, or where the payment initiation service provider fails to comply with paragraph 2 of this Article, and where that failure results in a defectively executed payment transaction, the payer’s PSP shall without delay refund the payer the amount transferred and, where applicable, restore the debited payment account to the state in which it would have been had the transaction not taken place. 8.2 Where the failure to comply occurs because the payee’s PSP, or the payment initiation service provider, failed to comply with its obligations under this Article, the payee’s PSP or, where relevant, the payment initiation service provider, shall compensate the payer’s PSP for the financial damage caused to the payer’s PSP by that failure. 8.3 Any further financial loss caused to the payer may be compensated in accordance with the law applicable to the contract concluded between the payer and the relevant PSP Article 7 Fees in respect of credit transfers and verification of the payee
11 of 15 3. Paragraph 2 of this Article shall be without prejudice to the actions taken by PSPs to comply with other restrictive measures, as provided for under the applicable legislation in the country on targeted financial sanctions, other international sanctions, and the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. Article 9 Fees for SEPA payments and corresponding national payments
12 of 15 Article 12 Annex Integral part of this regulation is Annex I Technical requirements. Article 13 Guidelines PSPs shall abide, in what concerns to measures to be taken in accordance with this Regulation, unless otherwise determined by the CBK, to the relevant guidelines issued by EBA. Article 14 Transitional Period
13 of 15 ANNEX I TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS (1) In addition to the essential requirements set out in Article 4, the following technical requirements shall apply to credit transfers and direct debit transactions: (a) The payment account identifier referred to in Article 4 paragraph 1 subparagraphs 1.1 and 1.3 must be IBAN, for all credit transfer and direct debit transactions, including national and crossborder transactions irrespective of the location of the PSPs involved or where only one PSP involved in the payment transaction. (b) The standard for message format referred to in Article 4 paragraph 1 subparagraphs 1.2 and 1.4 must be the ISO 20022 XML standard. (c) The remittance data field must allow for 140 characters. Payment schemes may allow for a higher number of characters, except if the device used to remit information has technical limitations relating to the number of characters, in which case the technical limit of the device applies. (d) Remittance reference information and all the other data elements provided in accordance with points (2) and (3) of this Annex I must be passed in full and without alteration between PSPs in the payment chain. (e) Once the required data is available in electronic form payment transactions must allow for a fully automated, electronic processing in all process stages throughout the payment chain (endto-end straight through processing), enabling the entire payment process to be conducted electronically without the need for re-keying or manual intervention. This must also apply to exceptional handling of credit transfers and direct debit transactions, whenever possible. (f) Payment schemes must set no minimum threshold for the amount of the payment transaction allowing for credit transfers and direct debits but are not required to process payment transactions with zero amount. (g) Payment schemes are not obliged to carry out credit transfers and direct debits exceeding the amount of EUR 999,999,999.99. (2) In addition to the requirements referred to in point (1), the following requirements shall apply to credit transfer transactions: (a) The data elements referred to in Article 4 paragraph 3 subparagraph 3.1, are the following: (i) the payer’s name and/or the IBAN of the payer’s payment account; (ii) the amount of the credit transfer; (iii) the IBAN of the payee’s payment account; (iv) where available, the payee’s name; (v) any remittance information. (b) The data elements referred to in Article 4 paragraph 3 subparagraph 3.2 are the following: (i) the payer’s name; (ii) the IBAN of the payer’s payment account; (iii) the amount of the credit transfer; (iv) the IBAN of the payee’s payment account; (v) any remittance information; (vi) any payee identification code; (vii) the name of any payee reference party;
14 of 15 (viii) any purpose of the credit transfer; (ix) any category of the purpose of the credit transfer. (c) In addition, the following mandatory data elements are to be provided by the payer’s PSP to the payee’s PSP: (i) the BIC of the payer’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction); (ii) the BIC of the payee’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction); (iii) the identification code of the payment scheme; (iv) the settlement date of the credit transfer; (v) the reference number of the credit transfer message of the payer’s PSP. (d) The data elements referred to in Article 4 paragraph 3 subparagraph 3.3 are the following: (i) the payer’s name; (ii) the amount of the credit transfer; (iii) any remittance information. (3) In addition to the requirements referred to in point (1), the following requirements shall apply to direct debit transactions: (a) The data elements referred to in Article 4 paragraph 4 subparagraph 4.1 sub-subparagraph 4.1.1, are the following: (i) the type of direct debit (recurrent, one-off, first, last or reversal); (ii) the payee’s name; (iii) the IBAN of the payee’s payment account to be credited for the collection; (iv) where available, the payer’s name; (v) the IBAN of the payer’s payment account to be debited for the collection; (vi) the unique mandate reference; (vii) the date on which the payer’s mandate was signed; (viii) the amount of the collection; (ix) where the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate, the unique mandate reference as given by the original payee who issued the mandate; (x) the payee’s identifier; (xi) where the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate, the identifier of the original payee who issued the mandate; (xii) any remittance information from the payee to the payer; (xiii) any purpose of the collection; (xiv) any category of the purpose of the collection. (b) The data elements referred to in Article 4 paragraph 4 subparagraph 4.2, are the following: (i) the BIC of the payee’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction); (ii) the BIC of the payer’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction); (iii) the payer reference party’s name (if present in dematerialized mandate); (iv) the payer reference party’s identification code (if present in dematerialized mandate); (v) the payee reference party’s name (if present in the dematerialized mandate); (vi) the payee reference party’s identification code (if present in dematerialized mandate);
15 of 15 (vii) the identification code of the payment scheme; (viii) the settlement date of the collection; (ix) the payee’s PSP’s reference for the collection; (x) the type of mandate; (xi) the type of direct debit (recurrent, one-off, first, last or reversal); (xii) the payee’s name; (xiii) the IBAN of the payee’s payment account to be credited for the collection; (xiv) where available, the payer’s name; (xv) the IBAN of the payer’s payment account to be debited for the collection; (xvi) the unique mandate reference; (xvii)the date of signing of the mandate; (xviii) the amount of the collection; (xix) the unique mandate reference given by the original payee who issued the mandate (if the mandate has been taken over by another payee than the payee who issued the mandate); (xx) the payee’s identifier; (xxi) the identifier of the original payee who issued the mandate (if the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate); (xxii)any remittance information from the payee to the payer. (c) The data elements referred to in Article 4 paragraph 4 subparagraph 4.3 are the following: (i) the unique mandate reference; (ii) the payee’s identifier; (iii) the payee’s name; (iv) the amount of the collection; (v) any remittance information; (vi) the identification code of the payment scheme.
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