Standards/qr-platba
QR Platba
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, [cz-cro]]. 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 CZ:
- 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 (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
- 1 QR Platba — official
- 2 SPAYD — Wikipedia
- 3 SPAYD format — ČBA
- [cz-cro]
reports/countries/CZ-czech-republic.md
Deployments
Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):
- CZ — CZ-czech-republic.md