The European Payments Council Quick Response Code guidelines define the content of a QR code that can be used to initiate SEPA credit transfer (SCT). It contains all the necessary information in clear text. These QR code guidelines are used on many invoices and payment requests in the countries that support it (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands) enabling tens of millions to pay without requiring manual input leading to lower error rates.
The EPC guidelines[1] are available from the EPC itself. Another version[2][3] has also been published by the Federation of Finnish Finance Services (FFI).
EPC QR code to pay €1 to the Belgian Red CrossEPC QR code to pay €1 to the Austrian Red Cross
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 (4 chars max):
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
1
SCT
BPOTBEB1
Red Cross of Belgium
BE72000000001616
EUR1
CHAR
Urgency fund
Sample EPC QR code
History
In the course of 2012, 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'.
[4]
These guidelines were quickly adopted by the Austrian banks. These QR code can be recognized thanks to the words "Zahlen mit Code" on the right.[5]
These guidelines were later on used in Finland (2015[6]), Germany (2015[7]), the Netherlands (2016).
