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The 'payto' URI scheme for payments
draft-dold-payto-00

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8905.
Expired & archived
Authors Florian Dold , Christian Grothoff
Last updated 2017-09-30 (Latest revision 2017-03-29)
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IETF conflict review conflict-review-dold-payto, conflict-review-dold-payto, conflict-review-dold-payto, conflict-review-dold-payto, conflict-review-dold-payto, conflict-review-dold-payto
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draft-dold-payto-00
Internet Engineering Task Force                                  F. Dold
Internet-Draft                                               C. Grothoff
Intended status: Informational                                     INRIA
Expires: September 30, 2017                               March 29, 2017

                  The 'payto' URI scheme for payments
                          draft-dold-payto-00

Abstract

   This document defines the 'payto' Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
   scheme for specifying payments.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on September 30, 2017.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Scheme Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Scheme Semantics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Examples  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  Payment Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   6.  Generic Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   7.  Interoperability  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   8.  Encoding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     10.2.  Informational References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   This document defines the 'payto' Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
   [RFC3986] scheme for specifying payments.  In its simplest form, a
   'payto' URL identifies a payment method and optionally an account
   identifier.  Additional parameters for a payment, such as an amount
   or a payment reference, can be provided.

2.  Scheme Syntax

   This document uses the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) of
   [RFC5234].  Certain values are included by reference from [RFC3986]:

     payto-URI = "payto" "://" method account [ "?" params ]
     params = param *( "&" param )
     param = (generic-param / method-specific-param) "=" *pchar
     generic-param = "amount" / "recipient-name" / "sender-name" /
                  "message" / "instruction"
     method-specific-param = *pchar
     method = <authority, see [RFC3986], Section 3.2>
     account = <path-abempty, see [RFC3986], Section 3.3>
     pchar = <pchar, see [RFC3986], Appendix A.>
     amount = [ currency ":" ] unit [ "." fraction ]
     currency = 1*ALPHA
     unit = 1*(DIGIT / ",")
     fraction = 1*(DIGIT / ",")

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3.  Scheme Semantics

   The authority component of a payment URI identifies the payment
   method.  The registry for payment methods is defined in Section 5 of
   this document.  The path component of the URI identifies the target
   account for a payment as interpreted by the respective payment
   method.  The query component of the URI can provide additional
   parameters for a payment.  Every payment method SHOULD accept the
   options defined in generic-opt.

4.  Examples

     payto://sepa/CH9300762011623852957?amount=EUR:200.0&message=hello

     INVALID (authority missing):  payto:sepa/12345

5.  Payment Methods

   sepa: Single European Payment Area.  The path is an IBAN, as defined
   by [ISO20022].

   upi: Unified Payment Interface.  The path is an account alias, as
   defined by [UPILinking].

   bitcoin: Bitcoin protocol.  The path is a bitcoinaddress, as defined
   by [BIP0021].

   ach: Automated Clearing House.  The path is a bank account number, as
   defined by [NACHA]

6.  Generic Options

   The following options SHOULD be understood by every payment method.

   amount: The amount to transfer, including currency information if
   applicable.  The format MUST be:

     amount = [ currency ":" ] unit [ "." fraction ]
     currency = 1*ALPHA
     unit = 1*(DIGIT / ",")
     fraction = 1*(DIGIT / ",")

   The fraction MUST be smaller than 10^8.  The unit value MUST be
   smaller than 2^53.  The use of commas is optional for readability and
   they MUST be ignored.

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   recepient-name: Name of the recipient of the payment.

   sender-name: Name of the sender of the payment.

   message: A short message to identify the purpose of the payment,
   which MAY be subject to lossy conversions (for example, due to
   character set encoding limitations).

   instruction: A short message giving instructions to the recipient,
   which MUST NOT be subject to lossy conversions.  Character set
   limitations allowed for instructions depend on the payment method.

7.  Interoperability

   This URI scheme subsumes other URI schemes for payments, such as
   "bitcoin" (provisionally registered) and "upi" (unregistered but in
   use, see [UPILinking]), providing one unified scheme for payment
   information.

8.  Encoding

   The payto URI scheme encoding conforms to the encoding rules
   established for URIs in [RFC3986].  Various payment systems use
   restricted character sets.  An application that processes 'payto'
   URIs MUST convert characters that are not allowed by the respective
   payment systems into allowable character using either an encoding or
   a replacement table.  This conversion process is typically not
   lossless.

9.  Security Considerations

   The payto URL contains instructions on how to send money.
   Applications that support the payto URI scheme MUST ask for
   confirmation from the user in order to confirm a payment.
   Applications MUST handle payto URLs in conformance with the principle
   of safe interaction (http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/#safe-interaction).

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [ISO20022]
              International Organization for Standardization, "ISO 20022
              Financial Services - Universal financial industry message
              scheme", May 2013.

   [NACHA]    NACHA, "NACHA Operating Rules & Guidelines", January 2017.

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   [RFC3986]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
              RFC 3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC3986, January 2005,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986>.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, January 2008.

10.2.  Informational References

   [BIP0021]  Schneider, N. and M. Corallo, "Bitcoin Improvement
              Proposal 21", January 2012, <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/
              BIP_0021>.

   [UPILinking]
              National Payment Corporation of India, "Unified Payment
              Interface - Common URL Specifications For Deep Linking And
              Proximity Integration", May 2016,
              <http://www.npci.org.in/documents/
              UPILinkingSpecificationsVersion10draft.pdf>.

Authors' Addresses

   Florian Dold
   INRIA
   Equipe TAMIS
   INRIA Rennes Bretagne Atlantique
   263 avenue du General Leclerc
   Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
   Rennes, Bretagne  F-35042
   FR

   Email: florian.dold@inria.fr

   Christian Grothoff
   INRIA
   Equipe TAMIS
   INRIA Rennes Bretagne Atlantique
   263 avenue du General Leclerc
   Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu
   Rennes, Bretagne  F-35042
   FR

   Email: christian@grothoff.org

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