Creation of seven additional workstreams of the digital euro Rulebook Development Group (deadline extended to 23 April 2024)

18 March 2024

The European Central Bank (ECB) is establishing seven new workstreams to develop the digital euro rulebook and has issued calls for candidates for each, inviting leading experts in payments infrastructure and architecture, technical specifications and scheme management to apply. Each applicant will need to be nominated by a member of the Rulebook Development Group (RDG).

The workstreams will report to the RDG (representing consumers, retailers, and intermediaries) in order to assist it in drafting various sections of the digital euro rulebook. The rulebook sets out the framework for a new digital form of the euro which complements cash and which consumers and businesses can use throughout the euro area. The development of the digital euro rulebook is being supported by workstreams focusing on specific topics and involving market participants and Eurosystem representatives. Last year three workstreams were launched, covering the scheme’s compatibility with standards, as well as technical requirements, and identification and authentication. The Eurosystem is now inviting applications for positions in the following workstreams:

• Minimum user experience (UX) standards: The aim of this workstream is to develop a proposal for the rulebook which will cover minimum UX standards relating to the functional and operational model and the implementation of a digital euro.
• Certification and approval framework: The goal of this workstream is to develop a proposal for testing and certification of payment and acceptance solutions as well as infrastructure used by intermediaries within the digital euro ecosystem. Expertise in payments and acceptance devices is essential for this position.
• Risk management: This workstream’s main objective is to develop a proposal for a rulebook section on risk management, identifying inherent risks for the different digital euro actors, proposing ways to mitigate them, and deriving the related residual risk.
• Four different calls for the implementation specifications workstream, focusing on:
  • Interactions between payment and acceptance solutions of individual and business users: This workstream’s mandate is to draft a section with a focus on end-user interactions between individual user devices (apps, cards, etc.) and business user acceptance devices (e.g. terminals, websites, apps, ATMs), ensuring a harmonised user experience for payments and other basic digital euro services.
  • Interactions between individual users and their intermediaries: This workstream’s aim is to create a proposal for a section on interactions between end users and payer intermediaries. It will ensure the compliance and interoperability of digital euro payments made by individual users for both card and account-to-account payment products, building on workstream participants’ expertise in issuing and processing, for example.
  • Interactions between business users and their intermediaries: The goal of this workstream is to draft a proposal for a section on requirements for interactions between acceptance solutions and business user intermediaries. This would guarantee scheme conformity and interoperability across the business user space, drawing on the expertise of workstream participants in payment acceptance and acquisition.
  • Interactions between Digital Euro Service Platform and intermediaries: This workstream’s mandate is to develop implementation specifications for interactions between intermediaries and payment schemes (settlement services, fraud risk management services, dispute management services, alias lookup services etc.).

Candidates who meet the eligibility criteria detailed in the calls for applications should submit the requisite documents via email to DigitalEuro-RBD@ecb.europa.eu by 23 April 2024.

The draft rulebook will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate any future adjustments and will be updated in accordance with the outcome of the digital euro legislative process. A possible decision by the ECB’s Governing Council to issue a digital euro would only be taken after the legislative act has been adopted.