Exceptions; Authorisation to Issue Statutory Instruments

(1) The following are not deemed payment services:
1. payment transactions executed wholly in cash directly from the payer to the payee, without any intermediary intervention;
2. payment transactions between the payer and the payee through a commercial agent authorised, by agreement, to negotiate or conclude the sale or purchase of goods or services only on behalf of the payer or only on behalf of the payee;
3. the physical transport of banknotes and coins on a professional basis, including their collection, processing and delivery;
4. services where the payee, at the payment service user's explicit request immediately before the execution of a payment transaction for the purchase of goods or services, hands cash to the payer as part of a payment transaction;
5. cash-to-cash currency exchange operations;
6. payment transactions based on any of the following documents drawn on the payment service provider with a view to placing funds at the disposal of the payee:
a) a paper cheque within the meaning of the Cheque Act, or a comparable paper cheque under the law of another Member State or other state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area,
b) a paper bill of exchange within the meaning of the Bills of Exchange Act, or a comparable paper bill of exchange under the law of another Member State or other state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area,
c) a paper-based voucher,
d) a paper traveller's cheque, or
e) a paper-based postal money order as defined by the Universal Postal Union;
7. payment transactions carried out within a payment or securities settlement system between settlement agents, central counterparties, clearing houses or central banks and other participants of the system, and payment service providers;
8. payment transactions related to securities asset servicing, undertaken by undertakings falling within no. 7, or by
a) credit institutions and financial services institutions under their licence pursuant to the Banking Act,
b) capital management companies under their licence pursuant to the Capital Investment Code, or
c) investment firms under their licence pursuant to the Securities Institutions Act;
9. services provided by technical service providers that support the provision of payment services, without them entering at any time into possession of the funds to be transferred, including the processing and storage of data, trust and privacy protection services, data and entity authentication, information technology and communication network provision, as well as the provision and maintenance of terminals and devices used for payment services; each of these with the exception of payment initiation services and account information services;
10. services based on specific payment instruments that can be used
a) to acquire goods or services in the premises of the issuer or within a limited network of service providers under a commercial agreement with a professional issuer,
b) to acquire a very limited range of goods or services, or
c) that are valid only in Germany, provided at the request of an undertaking or a public sector entity for specific social or tax purposes, regulated by public law provisions, for the acquisition of specific goods or services from suppliers having a commercial agreement with the issuer;
11. payment transactions provided by a provider of electronic communications networks or services offered in addition to electronic communications services for a subscriber to the network or service, that are
a) for purchase of digital content and voice-based services, regardless of the device used for the purchase or consumption of the digital content, and charged to the related bill, or
b) performed from or via an electronic device and charged to the related bill within the framework of a charitable activity or for the purchase of tickets, provided that the value of any single payment transaction does not exceed EUR 50 and the cumulative value of payment transactions for an individual subscriber does not exceed EUR 300 in a given month;
12. payment transactions carried out between payment service providers, their agents or branches for their own account;
13. payment transactions and related services between a parent undertaking and its subsidiary or between subsidiaries of the same parent undertaking, or between members of a credit-institution cooperative group;
14. cash withdrawal services, provided the service provider does not carry out other payment services;
15. the non-commercial collection and delivery of cash as part of a not-for-profit or charitable activity.
(2) An undertaking carrying on an activity under subsection (1), no. 10, letter a) or letter b), whose total value of payment transactions executed over the preceding twelve months exceeds EUR 1 million, must notify that activity to BaFin and state, in a description of the service offered, which exemption under subsection (1), no. 10, letter
a) or letter
b) is being relied on. On the basis of that notification, BaFin decides whether the conditions of subsection (1), no. 10, letter
a) or letter
b) are met. Where the undertaking's activity does not satisfy the conditions of subsection (1), no. 10, letter a) or letter b), BaFin informs it accordingly.
(3) An undertaking carrying on an activity under subsection (1), no. 11, must notify that activity to BaFin and provide it with an annual audit opinion confirming that the activity complies with the limits set out in subsection (1), no. 11.
(4) BaFin must inform the European Banking Authority of the notifications under subsections (2) and (3), stating the exemption relied on in each case. BaFin must make the information notified to it under subsections (2) and (3) publicly available in the Payment Institution Register or, insofar as the exemption is applicable via section 1(2), fourth sentence, in the E-Money Institution Register; the European Banking Authority is informed separately.
(5) The Federal Ministry of Finance is authorised to issue, by statutory instrument not requiring the consent of the Bundesrat, more detailed provisions on the content, type and scope of the particulars, evidence and documents that a notification under subsections (2) and (3) must contain. That statutory instrument may in particular contain more detailed provisions on:
1. the form of the description of the services offered where an exemption under subsection (1), no. 10, letter
a) or letter
b) is relied on,
2. the audit opinion where the exemption under subsection (1), no. 11 is relied on,
3. the permissible data media, transmission channels and data formats, and the supplementary information to be used and notified in addition to the principal information, such as particular legal entity identifiers and information on their currency or validity. The Federal Ministry of Finance may, in the statutory instrument, supplement the existing notification obligations with an obligation to submit collective notifications and collective returns, insofar as this appears necessary for BaFin to perform its tasks, including in order to obtain uniform documentation for assessing the business conducted under these sectoral exemptions. The statutory instrument may also lay down more detailed provisions on informing the European Banking Authority and on making the information publicly available in the Payment Institution Register and the E-Money Institution Register. The Federal Ministry of Finance may transfer the authorisation, by statutory instrument, to BaFin. The leading associations of the institutions must be heard before the statutory instrument is issued.
(6) Sections 10 to 18, 21(1), (3), (4), second to seventh sentences, and (5), section 23(1), third sentence and section 25 do not apply to payment institutions that offer only the account information service as a payment service.
(7) Sections 14, 19, 20, 22, 23, 26, 28 and 30 do not apply to institutions holding a licence under section 32(1), first sentence of the Banking Act, insofar as the Banking Act contains a provision of identical content.