Briefing
The Spanish consumer organisations Federación de Consumidores y Usuarios (CECU) and Asociación de Usuarios Financieros (ASUFIN) wrote jointly to the government and the governor of the Banco de España on 13 October 2026, warning of possible gaps in the protections for the planned digital euro. According to the organisations, the letter was addressed to the Minister for the Economy, Trade and Business Carlos Cuerpo, the Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 Pablo Bustinduy and the governor of Banco de España José Luis Escrivá.
According to CECU and ASUFIN, a key concern is that the current drafts being Council of the European Union discussed on the legal treatment of payments using the digital euro would apply the same liability rules as standard bank transfers—that is, under the Payment Services Directive PSD2. In the consumer groups’ view, this would leave users with less protection than they are accustomed to when paying by card: established refund mechanisms for fraud, undelivered goods or problems with merchants could be missing.
The organisations are therefore calling on Spain to press during the ongoing negotiations for clear, legally binding rules on liability and refunds, as well as effective commercial dispute resolution. Their demands are backed by the European consumer organisation BEUC, which has repeatedly stressed in studies and position papers that security, data protection and reliable refund rules are essential to consumer acceptance.
The organisations also raise the question of how such consumer protection mechanisms could be implemented technically and organisationally in the European Central Bank’s digital central bank money system without undermining core functions such as possible offline use. Until the Council texts are clarified and specific decisions are taken, CECU and ASUFIN see a risk that users could be worse off in cases of fraud or disputes than they are with card payments. The organisations are urging that protection requirements be clearly and bindingly enshrined in the final regulation.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).