Published jointly by Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier and Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia, the consultation paper - or so-called Green Paper - also aims to boost transparency, innovation and security in the single market.
Of the €59-billion worth of total retail payments made in the eurozone during 2009, there was very little integration across member states and platforms of payment, the Commission claims.
No viable business model yet agreed
The EU executive wants to rationalise the market and increase the playing field for new entrants.
The amount of online shopping in Europe accounted for €141 million in 2009 and is expected to rise to €190 million by 2014, the Green Paper says.
The move is being launched in parallel with today’s publication of a communication on e-commerce, geared to double the volume of online trade by 2015.
"The key market actors – mobile network operators, payment service providers, mobile phone manufacturers – have not yet agreed on a viable business model enabling interoperable payment solutions," the paper says.
It cites a "stalemate between mobile network operators (MNOs), traditional payment service providers (banks) and 'e-players', such as Google, Apple or RIM [Blackberry]," with MNOs "seeking to retain control of the business, at least in their role of security manager for the service."
Move complements single-payment area, e-commerce initiative
The paper warns there is a serious risk of “fragmentation through proprietary solutions”.
The Commission has been following with interest the battle between Google and Visa, which have both stepped up their offers of "digital wallet" services. The struggle to control the emerging mobile payments market took a new turn in May 2011 when Google launched its eWallet application for smartphones, in partnership with MasterCard.
Another issue flagged in the EU consultation document is the security of online and mobile payment systems.
Sensitive customer information should stay within a secure payment infrastructure, both in terms of processing and storing data, according to the EU executive.
Stakeholders have until 11 April to reply to the consultation document. The paper is also designed to complement the roadmap for rolling out the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) which will replace 32 separate payment regimes with a single one, enabling faster and cheaper cross-border payments throughout the EU.
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