Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2023)

Schedule 1

(Rules 5(1), (2), 33, 86, 87, 102, 104, 108, 113, 118, 121, 131, 132, 135, 138, 145, 147, 161, 166, 168, 169, 172, 173)

FILE SPECIFICATIONS

File Specifications

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   (1)   The ECACH System shall comply with the full ANSI X9.100-187 Standards for cheque image exchange and the NACHA Standard for electronic payment files. However, modifications have been made to accommodate the needs of the Currency Union.

NACHA Standard

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   (2)   The Full NACHA Standard for the electronic payment files shall be accepted and processed by the ECACH system with the following modifications —

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      (a)     In order to allow for domestic multicurrency clearing and settlement, the Reference Field in the File Header Record will be a mandatory field used to indicate currency code. The “three character” ISO Currency Code for EC dollar and US dollar will be used.

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      (b)     The Central Bank is not using a check digit with the bank routing number scheme. A trailing zero will be used in any 9 digit Routing Number field, a zero will be used in any Bank Routing Number Check Digit field and there will be no validation on the check digit.

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      (c)     An additional operator code is being added “R62-originating participant exceeds collateral” to identify an operator return at the end of day if the originating participant does not have enough collateral to send the payments.

NACHA Standard entry class codes

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   (3)   The following NACHA Standard entry class codes shall be used for processing —

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      (a)     CIE – Customer Initiated Entry: Customer initiated entries are limited to credit applications where the customer initiates the transfer of funds to a person for payment of funds owed to that company or person. Typical examples of these entries are utility bills and other internet banking product payments.

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      (b)     PPD – Prearranged Payment or Deposit Entry —

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         (i)     Direct Deposit: Direct deposit is a credit application that transfers funds into a customer's account at the receiving participant. The funds being deposited can represent a variety of products such as payroll, remittances, interest, pension and dividends refunds.

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         (ii)     Preauthorised Payment: A preauthorised payment is a debit application. Companies with existing relationships with the customers may participate in the electronic funds transfers through the electronic transfer (Direct Debit) of payment entries. Through standing authorisations, the customer grants the company authority to initiate periodic charges to his or her account as bills become due. This concept is especially applicable in situations where the recurring bills are regular and do not vary in amount such as insurance premiums and loan instalments. Preauthorised payments may also be used for bills where the amount does vary, such as utility payments.

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      (c)     CCD/CCD+ – Corporate Credit or Debit: This application can be either a credit or a debit application where funds are either distributed or consolidated between corporate entities or government entities. This application can serve as a stand- alone funds transfer between corporate or government entities, or it can support a limited disclosure of information when the funds are being transferred between organizations (that is sister companies) under the same group.

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      (d)     CTX – Corporate Trade Exchange: This application supports the transfer of funds (debit or credit) with a trading partner relationship in which business payment remittance information is sent with the funds transfer. The payment-related information is placed in multiple addenda records in a format agreed to by the parties and the ECACH.

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      (e)     IAT – International ACH: This application supports the cross-border transfer of funds (debit or credit) by a customer or business to pay another customer or business in another territorial jurisdiction.

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      (f)     ADV – Automated Accounting Advice.

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      (g)     COR – Automated Notifications of Change or Refused Automated Notification of Change.

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      (h)     Returns – Returns, Dishonoured Returns, Contested Dishonoured Returns.

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      (i)     Pre-notifications – 0.01 dollar test file for credit or debit transactions.

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      (j)     File Acknowledgments – ECACH acknowledgment of file status.

ANSI X9.100-187 Standards

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   (4)   The full ANSI X9.100-187 Standards for cheque images will provide a structure to facilitate electronic exchange of cheque related data and images for the purpose of forward cheque presentment, return item notification, and returns processing with the following modifications —

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      (a)     In order to allow for domestic multicurrency clearing and settlement, Field 13 in the File Header Record will be a mandatory field used to indicate currency code.

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      (b)     The three character ISO Currency Code for EC dollars and US dollars will be used.

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      (c)     The Central Bank is not using a check digit with the bank routing number scheme. A trailing zero will be used in any 9 Digit Routing Number field, a zero will be used in any Payer Bank Routing Number Check Digit field and no modulus verification checks will be employed.

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      (d)     “Return Code P” will be used to identify an operator return at the end of day if the receiving participant does not have enough collateral to cover the payment.

Failure to meet standards

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   (5)   Where a system participant fails to meet the standards as prescribed by these Rules the batch or file which does not meet the standards may be rejected by the operator. A receiving participant may return individual entries which do not meet the standards.