Earlier this month, representatives from PayPal Government Relation team, along other industry leaders and EU financial attachés, attended an event hosted by the European Payment Institutions Federation (EPIF) of which PayPal is a leading member. The focus of the event was the EU payments package currently being discussed at the EU Council, which consists of the revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2) and the Multilateral Interchange Fees Regulation (MIF Regulation).

As a leader in payments, PayPal is closely engaged with policymakers as they debate the future of electronic payments. PayPal believes it is critical to begin any meaningful discussion of payments regulation with a clear recognition that the core, real world, societal goals that underpin payments industry regulation are timeless and valuable. The goals of protecting consumers from fraud, fighting cybercrime, enabling systems allowing efficient tracking of the security threats, and promoting commerce, economic empowerment and innovation are all important goals that PayPal supports and believes other industry leaders share. During the event, representatives from PayPal GR specifically addressed the need to have a consistent set of security rules risks, to prevent the risk of multiple regulations creating overlapping security requirements hindering genuine EU harmonization. EPIF representatives attending the event recommended that security regulation takes into account that setting too rigid requirements might have a devastating impact on e-commerce and innovation. In fact, it was highlighted that a multi-factor security coupled with a risk based approach is the most appropriate solution to prevent security is guaranteed at the expenses of technology evolution and consumer usability.