SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, is the area where SEPA payment instruments like the SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit can be used. SEPA countries amount to 34 member states out of which certain states belong to other areas like the Eurozone and the European Economic Area (EEA). This article should help you understand what these areas are and what are the differences.

European Economic Area

The European Economic Area includes:

• the 28 Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia (provisional member), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Spain, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden.

• and additionally the following three states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway. They are green on the map. Liechtenstein is located between Switzerland (red on the map) and Austria.
  

Switzerland is not part of the European Economic Area.

The Eurozone

The Eurozone is a monetary union composed of all the countries of the European Union that have adopted the euro as common currency. It is important to note that these countries did not adopt the euro at the same time. Other countries may therefore decide to join the Eurozone in the coming years. At the moment this article is written, the eurozone consists of 19 countries (the year corresponds to the year of adoption of the euro by the country):

• Germany (1999)
• Austria (1999)
• Belgium (1999)
• Cyprus (2008)
• Spain (1999)
• Estonia (2011)
• Finland (1999)
• France (1999)
• Greece (2001)
• Ireland (1999)
• Italy (1999)
• Latvia (2014)
• Lithuania (2015)
• Luxembourg (1999)
• Malta (2008)
• Netherlands (1999)
• Portugal (1999)
• Slovakia (2009)
• Slovenia (2007)

All countries in the Eurozone are part of the SEPA area. But the opposite is not true. Several SEPA countries are not part of the Eurozone as you can see on the list of SEPA countries below.

The countries of the European Union that remain outside the Eurozone are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

The SEPA Countries or SEPA Area

The SEPA countries (SEPA area) consist of the following 34 member states:

• The 28 Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Spain, Low, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden;

• The 4 Member States of the European Free Trade Association: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland;

• The Principality of Monaco since March 31, 2009

• San Marino since the 1st of February 2014

France includes metropolitan France and the overseas departments and regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and Mayotte), as well as the territories of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy and the French part of Saint Martin.

List of SEPA countries

The table below contains the list of SEPA countries with the country codes to be used in the BIC and IBAN for these countries, as well as the code of their national currencies. List is available on the EPC website.

 Remark: For France, it is necessary to take into account the French overseas administrative departments and territories:

Pacific communities (New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna) are not part of the SEPA area.