Law on payment services
The Law of Georgia on Payment System and Payment Services together with the Organic Law on the National Bank of Georgia is a basic legal act regulating payment systems and services.
The purpose of the law is to promote the safe, sustainable and efficient functioning of the payment system of Georgia, to secure the proper operation of payment services and to protect the rights of payment service users.
The law offers a list of payment services and explains which services are not covered by the Law of Georgia on Payment System and Payment Services.
The law additionally defines the principles of regulation and supervision of the payment system and payment services. It explains the rights, obligations and responsibilities of payment system participants, parties involved in the payment service and payment service users. The law describes how payment orders are accepted and executed, what deadlines apply to these, what happens if these or whenever unauthorized payment transactions are performed.
Payment services legislation also include bylaws adopted by the National Bank of Georgia on the basis of the Law of Georgia on Payment System and Payment Services.
The Law of Georgia on Payment System and Payment Services together with the Organic Law on the National Bank of Georgia is the basic legal act regulating payment systems and services.
The purpose of the law is to promote the safe, sustainable and efficient functioning of the payment system of Georgia, to safeguard the proper execution of payment services and to protect the rights of payment service users.
The law offers a list of payment services and explains which services are not considered as the payment services.
The law additionally defines the principles of regulation and supervision of the payment system and payment services. It explains the rights, obligations and responsibilities of payment system participants, parties involved in the payment service and payment service users. The law describes how payment orders are accepted and executed, what deadlines apply to these, what happens if these are executed incorrectly or late, or whenever unauthorized payment transactions are performed.
Access the law here.
The Regulation describes how payment service providers are registered with the National Bank of Georgia, and how their registration can be revoked. The legal document also establishes the obligations of the provider, regulates provider's relationship with its agents and other third parties. Further, it sets out requirements related to the client funds that are present with the provider, and describes the process of revocation of provider’s registration.
The Rule is available here.
The National Bank of Georgia approved the Regulation on Providing Necessary Information to Payment Service Users when Providing Payment Services on January 6, 2016. The Regulation applies to payment service providers: commercial banks licensed by the National Bank of Georgia, payment service providers registered by the National Bank of Georgia and microfinance institutions.
The Regulation stipulates that users of payment services are entitled to comprehensive information about the service. This includes information on one-time payment services, payment services provided under the framework agreement, as well as payment services performed with a low-volume payment instrument.
The purpose is to establish the user access to and transparency of the necessary information, to allow users to make an informed and reasoned decision.
The above obligation of the provider applies to all consumers.
Read the Regulation here.
The Regulation on Execution of Payment Transactions explains the issues on execution of payment transactions executed in GEL and foreign currency based on credit payment orders and collection orders, offers the list of payment transactions allowed in foreign currency, and includes related provisions.
The Regulation does not cover the execution of payment transactions with electronic money.
Read the Regulation here.
The Regulation on the Card-based instruments sets out the following:
The regulation additionally regulates the relations between the acquirer and the entities involved in the card-based transaction (sub-acquirer, organizer of the trading platform).
The Regulation on the Card-based Instruments applies to commercial banks licensed in Georgia, registered microfinance institutions and registered payment service providers.
The Regulation is available here.
The purpose of the Regulation is to ensure the secure authentication of the payment service user, protect the confidentiality and integrity of the user's personalized security credentials, and reduce the risk of fraud and other illegal activities.
This is aimed at improving the stability of the financial sector, strengthening user protection, promoting the efficient and proper operation of the financial and payment systems, and increasing user confidence in payment services and cashless payments.
The provisions of the Regulation apply to payment service providers: commercial banks licensed by the National Bank of Georgia, payment service providers registered by the National Bank of Georgia, and microfinance institutions.
The provider is obliged to perform strong authentication when its customer - the payer performs the following actions:
The Regulation describes the exceptions and circumstances when the payment service provider is entitled not to perform strong customer authentication.
The instruction defines the structure and format of the international bank account number, explains the generation and validation (authentication) techniques, and sets out the requirements for displaying the international bank account number on electronic and material documents.
Find the Instruction here.
The Regulation on Registration and Cancellation of Registration of a Payment System Operators sets out the procedures and conditions of how payment system operators are registered with the National Bank of Georgia and how their registration can be cancelled.
Check the Regulation here.