The lights and the shadows of the EU law on payment transactions

A long-standing process to harmonise national rules on the transfer of funds has been underway at European Union level since the nineteen-eighties. This process aims to improve the proper functioning of the internal market for domestic and cross-border payment transactions, and is performed through soft and compulsory rules. It involves both institutional and private actors. This chapter looks at money as a means of payment and, after overviewing the EU law on payments, points to the lights and shadows in the payment service concept according to the 2015 directive on payment services in the internal market.