On 1 September 2015, there was published a legislative decree which introduces sanctions for breaches of the Regulation that establishes the Single Euro Payments Area (the SEPA Regulation).

The legislative decree designates the Bank of Italy as the authority in charge of applying such sanctions. Among other things the legislative decree introduces sanctions for unfair commercial practices. For example, the comments to the legislative decree note that a breach may apply in relation to article 9 of the SEPA Regulation (payment accessibility) where a firm requires its debtors or creditors to use an account in a specified jurisdiction for the purposes of payment to be made or received by a firm. A practical example here may be where an Italian insurer requires its clients to open an account in Italy to receive the payment of a claim, instead of accepting the indication of an account which is located in the EU.

View: Legislative Decree no. 135 of 18 August 2015 on the Official Gazette website (in Italian)