The European Payments Council has opened a public consultation on urgent change requests for a new version 1.1 of the Verification of Payee (VOP) scheme rulebook and related documents, after identifying issues and inconsistencies following the scheme’s deployment on 5 October 2025. In parallel, it has launched a regular call for change requests to the current version 1.0 rulebook. For the urgent changes, stakeholders are invited to review the proposed updates set out in the VOP scheme rulebook public consultation document on urgent change requests and submit feedback using the dedicated response template by 15 February 2026 at 18:00 CEST. The package is intended to support smooth scheme functioning and interoperability, with publication of VOP scheme rulebook version 1.1 expected by mid-March 2026. The regular call for change requests is open until 15 February 2026, with proposals submitted via the VOP Scheme Change Request Template. EPC will assess the legal and technical feasibility of submissions and plans a three-month public consultation from April to the end of June 2026, with broadly accepted changes to be incorporated into VOP scheme rulebook version 2.0 anticipated for publication by November 2026.
European Payments Council 2025-12-18
European Payments Council consults on urgent Verification of Payee scheme rulebook fixes and launches the change request cycle for version 2.0
The European Payments Council has initiated a public consultation on urgent change requests for version 1.1 of the Verification of Payee (VOP) scheme rulebook, following issues identified post-deployment. Concurrently, a regular call for change requests for version 1.0 is open, with a three-month public consultation planned for April to June 2026, aiming for version 2.0 publication by November 2026.