Direct debit in online retail at the end? The EU’s SEPA Regulation!

Legal experts have been pointing out the risk of offering the direct debit procedure due to the Geoblocking Regulation (see this article) for some time. I have already written something about the topic of “purchase on account” and the restriction to Germany only in this article.

Now, even in court, it has also taken the direct debit. The basis of the case law is the SEPA Regulation, which states that EU citizens must not be discriminated against when offering a payment method, which is why traders must accept payments from all EU accounts.

The ECJ decided today that this regulation applies to direct debit in exactly the same way. According to the EU’s highest court, Art. 2 of Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 laying down the technical rules and business requirements for transfers and direct debits in euros and amending Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 to interpret it as prohibiting a contractual term which precludes payment by means of a SEPA direct debit if the payer is not domiciled in the Member State in which the payee is established.

Therefore, if SEPA direct debit is offered as a means of payment, this must be made possible in the future, within the framework of the requirements of the Geoblocking Regulation, also for all citizens in the EU, including the requirements that the use is not made by the design of the forms or input checks may be excluded. If this is done anyway, or direct debit is no longer offered to every EU citizen, this should lead to a warning in the future to the same extent as in the case of other violations of the Geoblocking Regulation.

The court also did not change its mind on arguments made by Deutsche Bahn, which complained here, that credit checks were difficult in other EU countries. Providers would have to create suitable means themselves to deliver the product (including digital means) only after the direct debit was successful, alternatively bear the risk itself and, in the event of a direct debit revocation, for example, services to the customer and/or otherwise assert the contractual claims.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.