The European Payments Council (EPC) has released version 1.1 of all five 2025 EPC payment scheme rulebooks, effective 5 October 2025, alongside updated Implementation Guidelines and supporting documentation. The update primarily revises the date from which unstructured address formats are no longer permitted in EPC payment messages to 15 November 2026. The revised cut-off date replaces 22 November 2026 and is aligned with the November 2026 Swift Standards MX Release planned for the second full weekend of November 2026. Beyond this change, version 1.1 does not alter any other business or operational rules compared with version 1.0 across the SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, SEPA Direct Debit Core, SEPA Direct Debit Business-to-Business, and One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer rulebooks. The EPC also published version 2.1 of its guidance on address provision under the schemes and updated related clarification papers and other supporting documents; the accompanying Implementation Guidelines retain their existing version numbers because the updates are limited to a banner reflecting the date change.
European Payments Council 2025-10-07
European Payments Council updates 2025 payment scheme rulebooks to move the unstructured address cut-off to 15 November 2026
The European Payments Council (EPC) has issued version 1.1 of the 2025 EPC payment scheme rulebooks, effective 5 October 2025, with a key update revising the cut-off date for unstructured address formats in payment messages to 15 November 2026. This aligns with the November 2026 Swift Standards MX Release. No other business or operational rules have been altered from version 1.0.