The European Central Bank (ECB) Rulebook Development Group has been designing a set of rules, standards and procedures for digital euro payments. The group has published a report on the draft of the rulebook, allowing the public a glimpse of the technical aspects of central bank digital currency design.
The development group includes representatives of industry advocacy groups and national central banks. It began its work in January 2023 and has addressed functional and operational models, high-level architecture and standards and participants’ rights and obligations under draft legislation.
The draft rulebook is currently under review by the development group as a whole. “Based on the feedback received as part of this process, the RDG will consider making adjustments to this first draft as required,” the ECB said in a statement.
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In November 2023, the ECB moved into the “preparation phase” for the digital euro, following the conclusion of the investigative phase. Preparations will continue for two years. In that time, the ECB will finalize rules, run experiments and gather feedback. A legislative framework is being designed simultaneously.
Curious about how a digital euro would work?
— European Central Bank (@ecb) January 3, 2024
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As draft legislation progresses, the RDG will work on user experience, branding and communications, certification, testing and approval procedures, internal rules, risk management and interoperability and implementation. Initial draft legislation has received mixed reviews from various sources.
The ECB has also issued a call for applications to work on individual components of the digital euro. It is looking for vendors to target alias lookup, fraud and risk management, app and software development, offline services and secure payment exchange.
No decision on launching a digital euro will be made until ECB preparations are complete and the appropriate legislation is adopted.
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