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Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 743

Chemnitz city council switches to SEPA

Payment transactions are being converted to a standardised European payment procedure - From 1 February 2014, only SEPA direct debits will be permitted - Information will soon also be available at www.chemnitz.de - Citizens will be informed directly

The city administration of Chemnitz is converting the payment transactions of its offices and independent organisations to the new SEPA payment format. What is SEPA? - SEPA means Single Euro Payments Area and stands for the Single Euro Payments Area.

In order to achieve this standardised European payment procedure, the previous account numbers and sort codes are being replaced by IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code). The personal IBAN and BIC can be seen on account statements or obtained from the bank.

A key aspect of SEPA is the changeover of the direct debit procedure: from 1 February 2014, only SEPA direct debits will be permitted. Until this date, the old direct debit authorisations will remain valid. Citizens who wish to continue to participate in the direct debit procedure do not need to do anything at present. They will receive more detailed information on SEPA direct debits from the municipal administration in due course.

Furthermore, all taxpayers will receive a so-called combined mandate with the notices in January. This combined mandate includes both participation in the "old" direct debit procedure and use of the SEPA direct debit. Citizens who have not previously participated in the direct debit scheme and now wish to use it or whose bank details have changed must complete this combined mandate and return it to the Cash and Tax Office or hand it in at the municipal administration. The combined mandate will soon also be available on the City of Chemnitz homepage at www.chemnitz.de.

The city administration will successively add the IBAN and BIC to all notices, invoices and other forms.
Citizens who receive a service from the city do not need to do anything. The bank details will be automatically converted to the SEPA format.

If payment recipients apply for a new service from the city, they must inform the relevant department of their IBAN and BIC.

Further information can be found on the website of the Deutsche Bundesbank:
http://www.bundesbank.de/Navigation/DE/Kerngeschaeftsfelder/Unbarer_Zahlungsverkehr/SEPA/sepa.html