EPC QR code

The European Payments Council (EPC) Quick Response (QR) code is a technical standard by the European Payments Council. It uses a QR code containing all the necessary information for initiating a SEPA credit transfer (SCT). It is commonly used on invoices and payment requests in the countries that support it (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy).

The EPC guidelinesEPC guidelines V 3.1 are available from the EPC itself. Another versionInternet Archive version of Federation of Finnish Finance Services guidelines has also been published by the Federation of Finnish Finance Services (FFI).

Sample content of QR Code

Service Tag:BCDVersion:001Character set:1Identification:SCTBIC:BPOTBEB1Name:Red Cross IBAN:BE72000000001616Amount:EUR1Reason (4 chars max):CHARRef of invoice:Empty line or REFINVOICEOr text:Urgency fund or Empty lineInformation:Sample EPC QR code

So the QR string could be BCD 001 1 SCT BPOTBEB1 Red Cross BE72000000001616 EUR1 CHAR

Urgency fund Sample EPC QR code

History In 2012, the Austrian payment facilitator STUZZA (now part of PSA Payment Services Austria) defined the content of a QR code that could be used to initiate money transfers within the Single Euro Payments Area.

In February 2013, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the document 'Quick Response Code: Guidelines to Enable Data Capture for the Initiation of a Credit Transfer'.

These guidelines were quickly adopted by the Austrian banks. These QR code can be recognised thanks to the words "Zahlen mit Code" (Pay with Code) on the right.PSA "Zahlen mit code"

These guidelines were later on used in Finland in 2015, Germany in 2015Girocode in Germany and the Netherlands free EPC QR code for EU in 2016.

EPC QR code

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