European Central Bank publishes interim draft digital euro rulebook annex on end-to-end flows

The European Central Bank has published an interim draft of Annex B2 to the digital euro scheme rulebook, setting out the end-to-end operating flows that would underpin how the digital euro works in practice. The draft maps the main processes for individual and business users, payment service providers and Eurosystem components across access management, liquidity management and transaction management, covering both online and offline use cases where specified. The annex describes process logic for onboarding, account switching, profile amendments and offboarding, alongside funding and defunding from non-digital euro accounts or cash through ATMs and branches. It also details payment and servicing scenarios including person-to-person transfers, e-commerce and point-of-sale payments, recurring payments and standing orders, pre-authorisation, refunds, disputes, balance enquiries and post-settlement fraud reporting. Key assumptions remain embedded in the flows, including a single digital euro payment account per individual user, while business users must keep each digital euro payment account linked to a non-digital euro payment account with reverse waterfall active. Several areas remain provisional, with some offline processes still pending further design decisions and many technical sub-flows explicitly left out of scope. The ECB also states that separate pilot documentation exists and that this draft rulebook should not be used for pilot or implementation purposes. The draft may not yet fully reflect the European Commission's draft legislative proposal, particularly on the possibility for one individual to hold different digital euro accounts. The rulebook is due to be updated once the ECB has finalised its assessment and opinion on that proposal.