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Standards/qr-platba

QR Platba

TypeQR Code
PrimaryCZ
MentionedCZ
Completeness95%high

Overview

QR Platba (SPAYD — Short Payment Descriptor) is the Czech Republic's national open-source standard for encoding payment data into QR codes, accepted 14 November 2012 by the Czech Banking Association (ČBA) in cooperation with Česká spořitelna, ČSOB, and other domestic banks 1, 2, 3, Czechia report. SPAYD is the technical specification underlying QR Platba — defining precise syntax for QR-encoded payment instructions including IBAN, amount, currency, variable symbol, payee name, message, etc.

The structural distinction: QR Platba / SPAYD is open-source + free + publicly documented + freely usable by anyone — a remarkably permissive technical standard. The standard is supported by all Czech banks: Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka, ČSOB, Raiffeisenbank, Fio banka, Air Bank, MONETA, and others. The 2012 origin makes QR Platba one of the oldest national QR-payment-data-encoding standards in Europe — predating most peer-country national QR rails by 5-7+ years. While QR Platba addresses payment-data-encoding (filling out payment forms via QR), it is structurally complemented by Czech instant-payment infrastructure and the related Platba na kontakt phone-addressed payment service. Czech invoicing software widely embeds SPAYD QR codes — making invoice-to-payment-form-filling automatic for Czech businesses.

History

Background — Czech payment landscape pre-2012 Czechia report:

  • Česká národní banka (ČNB) — central bank.
  • Czech Banking Association (ČBA) — industry body.
  • CERTIS — Czech interbank-payment system.

Pre-2012 — Need for standardisation 3:

  • Various banks experimenting with QR-encoded payment data.
  • Fragmentation challenge.

14 November 2012 — SPAYD accepted by ČBA 3:

  • ČBA officially accepts SPAYD as standard.
  • Submitted to all Czech banks as official local standard.

Subsequent updates 2:

  • Multiple versions; version 1.0 currently in effect.

Universal Czech bank support 3:

  • All major Czech banks support QR Platba.

Komerční banka client format [kb-format]:

  • KB-specific client format published.

Technical specification

QR Platba / SPAYD is ČBA-coordinated open-source national QR-payment-encoding standard 1, 2, 3:

Layer Description
Standards body Czech Banking Association (ČBA)
Specification SPAYD (Short Payment Descriptor)
Accepted 14 November 2012
Currency CZK (Czech koruna) — with extensions for other currencies
License Open-source + free + publicly documented + freely usable
Supporting banks All Czech banks (Česká spořitelna, KB, ČSOB, Raiffeisenbank, Fio, Air Bank, MONETA, others)
Current version 1.0

SPAYD encoding 2:

  • IBAN, amount, currency.
  • Variable symbol (Czech payment-reference standard).
  • Payee name, payment message.
  • Other Czech-specific payment fields.

Open-source license 3:

  • Free to use.
  • Publicly documented.
  • Third-party libraries available (e.g., rspayd Ruby gem).

Use cases

Invoice QR codes 1: Cardinal use — Czech invoices include SPAYD QR.

Bank-app scanning to auto-fill payment forms 2: Customer scans invoice QR → payment form pre-filled.

Business-to-customer billing 2: Standardised across all Czech merchants.

Online checkout 1: E-commerce SPAYD QR display.

Charity donations 1: Quick donation via QR scan.

Cross-bank ease: Customer of any Czech bank can scan any SPAYD QR.

Implementations & ecosystem

Standards body: Czech Banking Association (ČBA).

Founding cooperation: Česká spořitelna + ČSOB + other domestic banks.

Supporting banks: All Czech banks (Česká spořitelna, KB, ČSOB, Raiffeisenbank, Fio Banka, Air Bank, MONETA, and others).

Open-source libraries: rspayd (Ruby), etc.

Czech invoicing software: Widespread SPAYD QR-code embedding.

Fun facts

  • 14 November 2012 acceptance: Among the oldest national QR-payment-encoding standards in Europe.
  • Open-source + free + publicly documented: Remarkably permissive standard.
  • All Czech banks support: Universal coverage.
  • Invoice-embedded SPAYD QR: Standard Czech invoicing practice.
  • Pre-dates peer national QR by 5-7+ years: Early-mover advantage.
  • ČBA-coordinated: Czech Banking Association industry-body coordination.
  • Multiple OS libraries: Developer ecosystem maturity.
  • CERTIS interbank-payment context: Czech payment-infrastructure foundation.

Comparison

Feature QR Platba/SPAYD (CZ) EPC QR / Stuzza (EU) SGQR (SG) UPI QR (IN) Girocode (DE)
Standards body ČBA European Payments Council Singapore Payments Council NPCI DK + Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft
Launch 14 Nov 2012 2015 Sep 2018 2016 2013
Type National QR data-encoding European QR data-encoding Unified national QR rail NPCI-proprietary QR German EPC-compatible QR
Open-source Yes (free + public) Yes (publicly documented) n/a n/a Yes
Universal national-bank support Yes (all CZ banks) EPC-member banks All SG banks All IN banks DE banks

Status

Active, mature standard 1, 2, 3:

  • ČBA-coordinated since 14 November 2012.
  • SPAYD specification publicly documented.
  • All Czech banks supporting.
  • Open-source + free + widely-implemented.

Sources

Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):

source · content/standards/qr-platba/index.md