As has been postponed for two years in 2014. The objective is to harmonize payment rules in the European community.

The IBAN (international bank account number, in English) will now be used for the transfer and bank payments from next February, at the expense of NIB (Bank Identification Number).

The application of the single payments area (SEPA – Single Euro Payments Area, in English) had suffered a postponement in 2013, by government decree, and was to take effect in early 2014.

According to the statement from the Bank of Portugal (BoP) released this Tuesday, is now complete the creation of SEPA, which implies changes in credit transfers and direct debits. The technical and business requirements stipulated by EU regulation will become “fully adopted.”

Compound maximum of 34 characters, IBAN is an international standard code in which the first two concern the identification of the country. In the Portuguese case, the code is composed of the prefix PT50 following his 21 digits of NIB.

The Portuguese central bank stresses that “the Public Administration bodies and companies that do not use IBAN as identifiers of accounts (…) will find itself unable to implement credit transfers and direct debits,” such as the payment of wages , payments to suppliers or collection of goods and services.

According to the organization, companies and public administration bodies that still do not comply with the conditions bop should “contact their banks and other payment service providers” that the changes to be made in time.

The Single Area Payments in Euros is made up of 33 countries where individuals, companies and other economic actors can perform euro transactions in similar conditions regardless of their location, thus eliminating differences between national and cross-border payments.
The benefits to consumers are many, says the BoP. If you work or live abroad, people can now receive the salary or pay electricity, water or gas through the account opened in Portugal.

[Source]