Observatory of the security of means of payment

History

Established by the law of 15 November 2001 on daily security , the observatory for the security of payment cards (first name of this body) is actually installed by the first order of appointment of its members, dated January 23 , 2003¹ .

The law Sapin 2 of 2016 renames the observatory and extends its skills to all means of payment.

Missions

The missions of this observatory are defined by Article L141-4 of the Monetary and Financial Code ² :

• monitor the security measures taken by issuers, merchants and businesses;
• establish fraud statistics;
• ensure the technological watch in the field of means of payment with the aim of proposing means to fight against the attacks on the security of the means of payment.

Definition of the scope of competence

When it was created, the scope of this observatory covered cards issued by a credit institution or similar institution whose functions are the withdrawal or the transfer of funds. It did not cover single-issue cards. Among these cards, there are so-called privative cards (such as those reserved for payments in a large chain) and interbank cards (accepted by a large number of establishments in France and worldwide).

This definition was governed by Article L132-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, before its deletion in 2009 ³ by the incorporation into French law of the European Directive on payment services . Since then, question ^4 , 5 has been raised to extend the powers of the observatory to a larger field of payment instruments whose security must be ensured: in its presentation of the work of the observatory on 5 July 2016 ⁶ , François Villeroy de Galhau confirmed this extension to come in the law Sapin 2 . An amendment filed ⁷ by Dominique Potier , draftsman on behalf of theThe Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly replaces the word “cards” by “means” in Article L141-4 ⁸ of the Monetary and Financial Code and extends the jurisdiction to all non – cash means of payment ⁹ .

Presidency and Coordination

In accordance with Article R142-23 of the Monetary and Financial Code ¹⁰ , the president of the observatory is appointed from among its members by the Minister of the Economy. Its mandate is three years, renewable. Traditionally, it is the Governor of the Banque de France who is appointed to assume this presidency, ie successively:

The secretariat of the observatory is staffed by Banque de France staff, who are more generally in charge of its operation.

Composition

In accordance with Article R142-22 of the Monetary and Financial Code ¹¹ , this observatory has 34 members:

• A deputy and a senator;
• Eight representatives of the administrations concerned:
  • A representative of the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security;
  • Two representatives of the Minister of the Economy;
  • A representative of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice;
  • Two representatives of the Minister of the Interior (since the National Gendarmerie joined the Ministry of the Interior);
  • A representative of the minister in charge of consumption;
  • A representative of the Minister of Industry;
• The Governor of the Banque de France or his representative;
• The Secretary General of the Prudential Supervisory and Resolution Authority or his representative;
• A representative of the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties;
• Fourteen representatives of issuers of payment instruments and payment system operators;
• Five representatives of the Consumer College of the National Consumption Council;
• Eight representatives of professional organizations of merchants and companies in the fields of retail, mass distribution, distance selling and e-commerce, among others;
• Two personalities chosen because of their competence.

Members of the Observatory

Qualified personalities

Works

The work of this observatory is organized in plenary meetings (three in a year), permanent working groups (statistics of fraud and technology watch) and ad hoc working groups . An annual report has been produced each year since 2003.

Annual reports

Evolution of fraud rates

The overall fraud rates for transactions processed by French systems, as well as the information used to put them into perspective, are taken from the Observatory’s annual reports and presented in the table below:

References