Law on Payment Services

The Law on Payment Services, which corresponds to the requirements of the Payment Services Directive, took effect on 17 March 2010 with changes implementation by 1 June 2010.

The Law on Payment Services applies to:

• payments and transactions with payment cards;
• settlements in euros and lats and other currencies of the European Economic Area. ** 

SEB banka has fully implemented the requirements of the Law on Payment Services from 1 June 2010 and provides customer service meeting all the requirements of the Law on Payment Services.

The law provides a clear distribution of responsibility, rights and duties between the bank and the client, a transparent and unified payment services procedure and offers clients a facilitated process for submitting and reviewing their complaints.

Key benefits for clients form the introduction of the law in Latvia:

• Unified payment conditions – both for domestic payments and international payments within the European Economic Area *;
• More transparent procedure of explanation and application of commission fees;
• Longer deadlines for submission complaints and a clearer reviewing procedure;
• Longer notice period for clients in the event of changes to the provisions of the contract and service price list;
• Higher responsibility and stricter requirements for the payment service providers.

The Payment Services Directive (PSD) aims to introduce uniform legislation for non-cash payment services in the European Economic Area. *

One of the key tasks of the Directive is consumer protection on a high level. Implementation of the Directive ensures simple, secure and efficient payments throughout Europe – both domestic and cross-border.

The Directive applies to all European Economic Area member states.* It equally applies to payments in Latvian lats, euros and any other currency of the European Economic Area member states. **