The EU’s new payment rules cleared their second-to-last step on October 29, 2026, when the Council adopted its first-reading positions on the third Payment Services Directive (PSD3) and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) at a meeting in Luxembourg. The voting result for the PSR shows the position was adopted after Coreper, the committee of member-state ambassadors, approved it on October 28. Only a European Parliament vote is left, and the rules would then apply about two years after publication.
PSD3 covers licensing and supervision of payment firms and has to be written into national law. The PSR holds the rules customers deal with directly, such as fraud refunds, spending limits and name checks on transfers, and applies on its own in every member state.
What happened since October 29
| Date | Step | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2026 | Council adopts its positions on PSD3 and the PSR | Council voting result |
| Nov 3, 2026 | Commission tells Parliament it accepts the Council’s position | COM(2026) 609 |
| Nov 6, 2026 | PSD3 position published in the Official Journal, C series | OJ C/2026/5934 |
| Dec 14, 2026 | Indicative date for Parliament’s second-reading vote | Legislative Observatory |
Parliament’s file on the PSR shows the status “Awaiting Parliament 2nd reading” (checked November 13, 2026). The outcome is unlikely to be a surprise: the Council’s statement of reasons records that the chair of Parliament’s economic affairs committee wrote on May 13, 2026 that she would recommend accepting the Council’s text at second reading, and the committee had approved the agreed text on May 5. The Commission’s communication says the Council text “fully reflects” the political deal of November 26, 2025.
When the rules would apply
The PSR text enters into force on the 20th day after publication in the Official Journal and applies 21 months after that. Articles 51 and 58, which extend the payee name check to all credit transfers and set a bank’s liability when that check goes wrong, apply after 27 months. The PSD3 text gives member states the same 21 months to adopt and apply their national laws.
No publication date exists yet, so the table below works through three possible ones. The dates are our calculation from those article rules, not dates set by the EU.
| If published in the Official Journal on | In force | Most PSR rules and PSD3 apply | Name check for all transfers (Arts 51, 58) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 29, 2027 | Feb 18, 2027 | Nov 18, 2028 | May 18, 2029 |
| Feb 26, 2027 | Mar 18, 2027 | Dec 18, 2028 | Jun 18, 2029 |
| Mar 31, 2027 | Apr 20, 2027 | Jan 20, 2029 | Jul 20, 2029 |
Each month of delay before publication moves every date in the row by a month. PSD2 stays in force until then.
What changes for people who pay
| PSR article | Rule in the Council text |
|---|---|
| Art. 51 | The check that the payee’s name matches the account, which banks already run for euro transfers under the Instant Payments Regulation, covers all credit transfers, including those in other currencies |
| Art. 52 | Customers can set spending limits; a limit raised remotely takes effect after a four-hour delay, which the customer can adjust or switch off |
| Art. 60 | A consumer tricked by someone posing as their bank, through channels attributed to the bank, gets a full refund if they tell the bank without undue delay and report it to the police |
| Art. 60(3) | The bank has 15 business days after receiving the police report to refund or explain a refusal |
| Art. 63 | The €50 cap on a payer’s loss from a lost or stolen card or credentials stays |
The impersonation refund does not apply when the consumer acted fraudulently or with gross negligence, and the bank has to prove that. Banks also lose the room to slow down apps that use open banking: the Council’s statement of reasons says they may not put “artificial technical obstacles” in the way of authorised providers.
