> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.editran.onesait.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.editran.onesait.com/documentacion-editran/ibm-editran-v5.3-comun-z-os-en/editran-sepa/introduccion.md).

# Introduction

SEPA (from the English terminology Single Euro Payments Area) is the area in which citizens, businesses, and other economic agents can make and receive euro payments under the same basic conditions, rights, and obligations, regardless of their location and whether or not those payments involve cross-border processes.
\
To achieve that uniformity, a set of standards mandatory for all financial institutions has been developed as of February 2014, and their use is also recommended in customer-financial institution relationships. These standards define, among other things, the formats that messages for non-cash payments must comply with, when their origin or destination is one of the countries included in the SEPA area.

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So far, SEPA has specified these formats for the following three messages:

* SEPA Direct Debits in electronic file – Core Scheme
* SEPA Direct Debits in electronic file – B2B Scheme
* File orders for issuing transfers and cheques <br>

{% hint style="info" %}
The ISO 20022 standard is the common platform for all of them, and its syntax is XML. <br>
{% endhint %}

In parallel, in order to facilitate the migration to the new standard, especially in customer-financial institution relationships, and as a transitional solution, for use only at the national level, SEPA Spain has reworked the old AEB booklets corresponding to the three messages mentioned above. These reissues of those formats also define flat files, but this time with fixed record lengths of six hundred characters, which include practically all of the new concepts defined in the ISO 20022 standard messages: BIC codes, IBAN accounts, etc.
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In short, temporarily, with a deadline yet to be determined, these two formats will coexist as valid for communicating the same information.


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