ELECTRONIC MONEY – PAYMENT SERVICES¹ – ELECTRONIC COMMERCE– DISTRIBUTION – VIRTUAL MONEY
A	LEGISLATIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE REFERENCES
N.	CATEGORIES	LEGISLATIVE – ADMINISTRATIVE SOURCE	OBJECT	DEADLINES
1	Electronic money	Directive 2000/46/CE	“Taking up, pursuit of and prudential supervision of the business of Electronic Money institutions”	Entry into force: 27.10.2000 Acknowledgment by 27.04.2002
		Directive 2000/28/CE	“Directive amending Directive 2000/12/CE relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions”	Entry into force: 27.10.2000 Acknowledgment by 27.04.2002
		Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council	“Taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of Electronic Money institutions, amending Directives 2005/60/CE and 2006/48/CE and repealing Directive 2000/46/CE”	–
		Art. 11 Banking Sole Text (“TUB”)²	“Raising of savings”	–
		Art. 106 TUB³	“General list of subjects operating in the financial sector”
		Art. 107 TUB⁴	“Special list of subjects operating in the financial sector”
		Art. 113 TUB	“Subjects not operating vìs a vìs the public”
		Art. 114 TUB	“Final rules relating to the subjects operating in the financial sector”
		Artt. from 114-bis to 114-quinquies TUB	“Electronic Money Institutions”	–
		Art. 115 TUB	“Field of application of the rules on transparency of contractual conditions relating to banking and financial operations and services”	–
		Opinion of the Ministry of Treasury n. 35 dated 27.03.1996	“Question: if the activity of issuing and managing “Fidelity Cards” can be considered as a payment services performance according to art. 106.1 of the Banking Sole Text, approved by Legislative Decree dated 1.9.1993, n. 385”	–
2	Payment services	Directive 98/26/CE	“Settlement finality in payment and securities settlement systems”	Entry into force: 11.06.1998
		Directive 2007/64/CE	“Payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/CE, 2002/65/CE, 2005/60/CE and 2006/48/CE and repealing Directive 97/5/CE”	Entry into force: 25.12.2007 As of 28.01.2008 the Pan-European credit transfer is in force Acknowledgment by: 01.11.2009 Completion of SEPA implementation: by 2010
			Payment services allow: – to execute – order of payment – operations of payment – with credit cards – subject to specific modalities of granting the consent – to issue and/or to acquire payment instruments – money remittance
			Introduction of “Payment Institutions”
2.1	S.E.P.A. (Single Euro Payments Area)	Directive 2007/64/CE	“Payment services in the internal market amending directives 97/7/CE, 2002/65/CE, 2005/60/CE and 2006/48/CE and repealing directive 97/5/CE”
			See item A.2 above
2.2	S.E.P.A. Rulebooks	EPC (European Payments Council) Plenary Resolution of March 8^th, 2006	“SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook”	–
			“SEPA Direct Debit Scheme Rulebook”
2.3	S.E.P.A. Frameworks	EPC (European Payments Council) Plenary Resolution of March 8^th, 2006	“SEPA Cards Framework”	–
			“PE-ACH/CSM Framework”
3	Transfer of mobile (telephony) residual credit	AGCom Resolution n. 416/07/CONS	“Notice to mobile phone operators to meet the obligation of recognition of the users’ residual credit pursuant to art. 1, par. 3, law 40/07”	Framework agreement concerning the transfer of the residual credit has been signed by several operators
		AGCom Resolution n. 353/08/CONS	“New deadlines to meet the obligation of portability of the residual credit in case of users transfer according to AGCOM resolution 416/07/CONS: Notice to mobile phone operators to meet the obligation of recognition of the users’ residual credit as per art. 1, par. 3, law 40/07”
4	Electronic Commerce⁵ – Distribution⁶	Directive 08.06.2000 n. 2000/31/CE	“Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’)”	Entry into force: 17.07.2000 Acknowledgment by 17.01.2002
		Legislative Decree dated 09.04.2003 n. 70	“Implementation of Directive 2000/31/CE on certain legal aspects of information society services in the Internal Market, in particular electronic commerce”	Entry into force: May 2003
	a. Exclusive distribution ⁷	Requirements	Market share of the producer under 30%
		Effects	Possible protection against active sales of other exclusive distributors via internet (operating always together with other non serious vertical restraints, e.g. non-competition obligation limited to 5 years, the obligation to purchase certain quantities or to purchase on exclusivity basis)
	b. Selective distribution⁸	Requirements	Market share of the producer under 30%
		Effects	No interferences with the selection criteria applied by the producer (e.g. the producer can exclude from the on-line sales the enterprises that do not comply with said criteria)
5	Issuing of virtual money	National law and reference to international law	Obtainment of game credits (i.e. “World of Warcraft”) for the purchase of virtual goods, trade of game credits for real money, to the extent provided by the national law restrictions⁹ Data used as virtual money
B	REFERENCES
1	Authorities	Revenue Office, Antitrust Authority, AGCom, Bank of Italy, CICR, Consob, Privacy Authority, Ministry of Economy and Finance – GSM Association, Interservice working group, Payment Systems Government Experts Group
2	Convergence	Open cards	Payment services

1 To be assessed in the context of the adoption of the new automated transeuropean system of funds transfer with real-time gross regulation TARGET2, together with PE-ACH/CSM Framework, relating to the future infrastructures of paneuropean regulation.

2 As per art.35 of the Legislative Decree n.11/2010, which implements the Directive n. 2007/64/CE (PSD), the receipt of funds to be put on payment accounts used exclusively for the execution of payment services does not constitute raising of savings among the public.

3 Specific accomplishments and deadlines, inter alia, concerning the supply of payment services by financial intermediaries enrolled in the register indicated in artt.106 -107 TUB before December 25^th, 2007, has been introduced by art.37 of the Legislative Decree n.11/2010, which implements the Directive n. 2007/64/CE (PSD).

4 See note 3 above.

5 According to the Block Exemption Regulation (Commission Regulation (CE) 2790/1999, dated December 22^nd, 1999 and expiring on May 31^st, 2010) and with the Guidelines on vertical restraints (Commission Notice Guidelines on Vertical Restraints [2000]), the resale restrictions on the distributors violate, in principle, the competition rules. The current policy relevant to the existing vertical restraints provides that: “Every distributor must be free to use the Internet to advertise or to sell products” (EFTA Guidelines on Vertical Restraints [2002], p. 51).

6 Exclusive and selective distribution systems are subject to the block exemptions but include some resale restrictions, including restrictions for sales via internet. These restrictions are considered appropriate because they can prevent the “free riding” among distributors with the possible consequent negative effects.

7 Exclusive distribution: an agreement whereby the supplier accepts to sell its products to a single distributor for the resale of said products in a specific territory.

8 Selective distribution: an agreement which reduces, as the exclusive distribution agreement, the number of authorized distributors and their possibility of resale. Differently from the exclusive distribution, the number of authorized distributors does not depend on the number of territories, but on the selection criteria primarily related to the nature of the product.

9 Circular of the Ministry of Culture and of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, 26 June 2009, China bars use of virtual money for trading in real goods, posted on the website: http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/index.shtml.

10 According to the AGCM Report IC 37, Prepaid cards in Italy. Features, diffusion and potential competitive impact on the offer of Electronic Money, posted on the web site: www.agcm.it, pp. 5, open cards are defined as: “prepaid cards, customarily bank cards, that, in addition to the typical means of payment, can be used to purchase goods and services”.

11 AGCM Report, mentioned sub note above 10, pp.13 and following.

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