EPC QR code
The European Payments Council 'Quick Response 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. It is commonly used on invoices and payment requests in the countries that support it.
The EPC guidelines are available from the EPC itself. Another version has also been published by the Federation of Finnish Finance Services.
Sample content of QR Code
| Service Tag: | BCD |
| Version: | 001 |
| Character set: | 1 |
| Identification: | SCT |
| BIC: | BPOTBEB1 |
| Name: | Red Cross |
| IBAN: | BE72000000001616 |
| Amount: | EUR1 |
| Reason : | CHAR |
| Ref of invoice: | Empty line or REFINVOICE |
| Or text: | Urgency fund or Empty line |
| Information: | Sample EPC QR code |
So the QR string could be
BCD
001
SCT
BPOTBEB1
Red Cross of Belgium
BE72000000001616
EUR1
CHAR
Urgency fund
Sample EPC QR code
History
In 2012, the Austrian payment facilitator STUZZA 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 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" on the right.
These guidelines were later on used in Finland in 2015, Germany in 2015 and the Netherlands in 2016.