In parallel with the digitisation of financial transactions, it is necessary to create rules that protect the people, users and service providers alike; therefore, the Electronic Payment Service Providers Association (Hungarian acronym: EFISZ), an umbrella organisation of companies providing cashless electronic payment services, which was established in last April, has adopted the Electronic Payment Service Providers Association Code of Conduct (hereinafter as the “EFISZ Code of Conduct”).

In recent years, electronic and mobile payment services have significantly taken off in Hungary, so the independently organised Electronic Payment Service Providers Association created and adopted, at its General Assembly of 22 January 2018, a Code of Conduct for its members, outlining the standards of conduct and practices to be followed or avoided.

The Code of Conduct adopted by the General Assembly establishes ethical principles, and lays down basic standards of ethics associated with the services and operations of the members of the Electronic Payment Service Providers Association. Based on this Code, an EFISZ Ethics Committee will be established, which will be composed of members delegated by the association’s founders. This Committee will proceed in ethical cases, ex officio or upon ethical complaints, and issue ethical position statements in ethically disputable situations.

The EFISZ Code of Conduct was designed to serve as a professional and ethical corpus of standards for providers of electronic payment services in Hungary, and to implement professional self-regulation as set forth in the preamble to Act XLVII of 2008 on the Prohibition of Unfair Commercial Practices against Consumers. This Code of Conduct supports the strengthening of trust and cooperation between service providers, between service providers and consumers, as well as towards legislators, with the purpose of establishing an appropriate and proportionate legal framework.

“The Code of Conduct adopted by our General Assembly is intended to promote effective cooperation between service providers, helping to ensure consistent and predictable communication between service providers and consumers, as well as towards legislators.The standards of conduct declared in the Code aim to establish an appropriate and proportionate legal framework that may contribute to reinforcing public confidence in electronic payment services”, said Mihály Veres, the President of EFISZ.