EPC QR code

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 are available from the EPC itself. Another version has also been published by the Federation of Finnish Finance Services (FFI).



Sample content of 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'.

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.

These guidelines were later on used in Finland (2015 ), Germany (2015 ), the Netherlands (2016).