Online payments: Several EU Member States delay full Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) enforcement

 

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules entered into application on 31 December 2020. According to reports, several EU Member States are delaying full enforcement of the rules (Austria; Belgium; Denmark; France; Germany; Ireland; Italy; and Lithuania).

HOTREC believes that new rules on online payments for SCA, which aim to counter online payment fraud, risk causing significant difficulties for many European businesses in 2021. Established by the second Payment Services Directive, SCA requires that electronic payments be performed with multi-factor authentication. However, many businesses in Europe, including travel and hospitality sector companies, have highlighted that they will need to make a substantial number of changes to websites and payment systems in order to comply with the new requirement. The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the sector is likely to accentuate the difficulty of complying with these new requirements.