EMI: Transposition of 2nd E-Money Directive Postponed
- The French government was already belated to transpose into French law the second E-Money Directive of 2009. It has now been stopped in action by the highest court in France, the Constitutional Council.
- The Council has namely cancelled for formal reasons a bill giving power to the Government to enact the new European e-money legal framework. It should have been done by April 2011.
- The Constitutional Council’s decisions being not subject to appeal, the French Government will have to start the process anew. Since presidential and legislative ballots are due until next June, it is very likely that legislation will not take place before end 2012. Amid the large Western European economies, France is the last one not to have adopted the EU text. This much expected transposition shall enlarge the scope of e-money to all kinds of prepaid electronic payment instruments and partly deregulate the issuance of e-money.
- In comparison, the United Kingdom had 18 E-Money Institutions (EMIs) at the beginning of 2012, created under both the 2000 and 2009 European directives. Other major European countries have between one and three such EMIs, all regimes taken together. France already has three (under the first, more restrictive, Directive): BMS-Moneo, TicketSurf and Expay. Four other French payment service providers enjoy an exemption from the French regulator ACP, under which Kadéos and Maxichèque. In parallel, thirteen foreign-based EMIs are operating in France. Among those « passporting » institutions are Clikandbuy, Google Payment, MoneyBookers/Skrill, PPS, SmartVoucher, Netelller and Euronet.