EuroPay Act

Istkalen

I welcome this effort to streamline payment processing in our Europe. Nevertheless, I am opposed to the sanction it would effectively give to the trade of certain highly speculative securities, as well as the powerful sanctions it would allow this Council - often, as I'm sure we all know, temperamental - to pass with a simple majority. On a more procedural note, I would also prefer that it use the constitution's majority definitions - 55% - rather than its own. I therefore propose the following amendments:

AMENDMENT I

replace all mentions of 55% + 1 and/or 50% + 1 with "simple majority"

AMENDMENT II

Article I: EuroPay
...
~~VI. Where possible new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency shall be available to use on the Europay network~~

AMENDMENT III

Article II: Governance and Compliance
...
~~IV. The European Council by a vote of 55% + 1 may sanction countries including EU member states by blocking their banks access to the EuroPay network~~

Iras Tilkanas
Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen

BrumBrum

I am pleased with your support of the idea and take not of your oppinion on the voting majority. Howevery there needs to be a figure in place for committee decisions so I chose to use the European council principle.I settled on the 55% + 1 for sanctions as its the criteria the European councils vote level but adds a layer of protection to require more uniformity to impose sanctions.

I am concerned by eliminating the provision that the EuroPay network has to work to implement new technologies in its systems could potentially cause it to gradually become outdated. The EuroPay network needs to move with the times to use them most relevant payment technology of the day so would disagree with ammendment II.

James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC commissioner

Duxburian Union

The Union of Duxburian Dominions always welcomes more competition in payment processing. We tried this in the past with the Eurocard idea, but it didn't gain traction as councillors did not want to use a private contractor. In the time since then, payment processing has really advanced with mobile pay, direct ID card pay, Ripple X, BDAG, and now the cutting edge DAGK protocol. In order to be successful, EuroPay needs to have the flexibility to change and adapt with such massive leaps in technological sophistication. Payments, especially inter-bank, are no longer linear transmissions of money, they are massively parallel transmissions of asset-agnostic, platform-agnostic data. The idea of a consumer-facing retail bank itself is on the cusp of becoming obsolete.

Most of the proposed act does seem to account for changes in technology that would keep the network relevant. That said, I agree that the new technologies clause could be struck since it shouldn't limit itself to anything specific, plus if the network needs updating, it'll just get updated, enumerating such is unnecessary. Councillor Tilkanas holds a very outdated view of what the crypto world actually is these days, but that's a debate for some other act and some other time.

I agree with striking the sanctions clause. My government still holds sanctions as a step akin to declaring war with prejudice, and as it expects full military retaliation for any sanctions issued...it will simply never agree to issue any.

The Union of Duxburian Dominions lacks a conventional "chargeback" system since that would interfere with the infinite outbound scalability of the DAGK protocol, however, the clause allows for refunds to be issued as separate transactions so nothing needs to be amended there.

Chip and pin is far too antiquated to use, but again we don't need an amendment with how it's worded.

I do want to propose some minor amendments:

Amendment Four:
Change all references of "banks" to "financial institutions".

Amendment Five:
V.The network shall be funded by a percentage of transaction payment processing fee up to a cap and ~~per card card issuing~~ an origination fee charged to issuing financial institutions ~~banks~~ for every ~~physical card~~ tradeline number issued on the EuroPay network.

Physical cards aren't really a thing anymore and banks are not the only entities that may be authorized to originate cards, so these clauses should have more flexibility. It's important to note that a "tradeline number" does not include one-time use virtual privacy numbers or the user-changeable numbers on modern card accounts that don't have default card numbers baked in. A tradeline number is the overarching identifier for whatever form their core "card" takes and the fee only needs to be paid again when that overarching "card" needs to be re-issued.

Everything else about the act seems fine to me.

Wesley Greene
Councillor-General of the Duxburian Union

BrumBrum

I thank the right honourable councillor of the Duxburian Union and welcome his amendments. I do believe the new technology clause is flexible enough as it reads "such as" so wouldn't limit new technologies only to blockchain or crypto but just cites them as examples .

I do not believe that retail banking is obsolete or close to being so since many want the stability of an institution and protection of security features and financial protection offered by the industry. The chargeback and EuroPay Guard I believe is necessary to provide confidence in the network that would encourage people to use the system and its much better to have it organised at the Euro Pay level than through the banks or financial institutions without such a protection the system will be far too open to fraud and by setting aside a fund of 0.5% of transactions on the network we can cover transactions where money cannot be recovered from an account.

James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC commissioner

Mishar Republic

The Mishar Republic welcomes this initiative as it plans to cut down processing time to a minimum. We, however, find it difficult to vote for this proposal as it seems you are planning EuroPay to become a monopoly amongst the European payment processing technology. This will in the long term hinder EuroPay's ability to compete with the latest top-notch innovations in the payment industry. For this reason, we propose the following amendments:

Amendment VI:
I. EuroPay shall be set up as a ~~default~~ primary, but not exclusive, European payment processor and card issuer.

Amendment VII:
All payment processing card terminals sold in the EU must ~~accept EuroPay.~~be compatible with EuroPay and other major payment systems to promote inclusivity and competition.

We believe these amendments will help EuroPay become a strong payment processor whilst keeping natural competition from other processing companies.

Susie Dakota
Councillor of the Mishar Republic

Spain

Debate will be extended for 48 hours, until 11:04 GMT on January 1st, 2025.

Donald Tusk
Council Speaker and Councillor for Spain

California

Is this something that MUST be mandated? Banking groups and financial tech entities can handle this.

Snoop Dogg
Councilor for The Commonwealth of California

Leagio

Colleagues, the EuroPay Act represents a bold step forward in the integration of our financial systems. It is a move that I, as a representative of Leagio and a proud member of the Federation of Centrist Democrats, broadly support. Streamlining payment processes and enhancing consumer protections will undoubtedly make life easier for businesses and citizens across Europe. However, bold steps must also be measured steps.

While the centralization of the EuroPay network under the European Central Bank offers efficiency, we must acknowledge the diversity of our Union. What works in one member state may not work as smoothly in another. This is why I am proposing an amendment to establish regional compliance bodies in each EU member state.

Amendment VII: Article 3: Regional Compliance Bodies

Regional compliance bodies shall be established in each EU member state to work in collaboration with the European Central Bank (ECB) in overseeing the EuroPay network.
Responsibilities of regional compliance bodies include:

Monitoring and addressing local concerns regarding EuroPay operations.
Conducting investigations into compliance violations within their jurisdiction.
Reporting findings and recommendations to the ECB and the EuroPay Committee.

Regional compliance bodies shall consist of:

A director appointed by the member state's government.
A representative from the ECB to ensure alignment with European standards.
A panel of independent experts in finance and technology appointed by member state's government.

Regional compliance bodies must provide quarterly reports to the ECB, detailing:

Operational effectiveness.
Any detected irregularities or breaches of EuroPay standards.
Feedback from local banks and vendors on the system’s functionality.
Funding for regional compliance bodies shall come from a percentage of EuroPay’s annual budget.

Lionel Morel
EU-Councilor for Leagio

California

I get that but instructing and regulation of the sector is cheaper and faster to implement. Besides, Comissioners and their underlings, including the ECB, have yet to prove themselves capable of handling anything. Why should we trust them?

BrumBrum

The banks may choose to use alternative systems if they wish to. This is needed so there is an option available throughout the EU as a standard and all payment systems are interoperable. Right now there is a possibility in some states a card from another might not work this fixes that issue making conductig business and travelling easier.I can say as a businessman by background how hard it is when dealing with multiple trading sytems and payment systems around the continent, this is needed to solve that and make sure it is universal.

James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC commissioner