The term remote payment transaction is defined in Section 1 para. 19 of the German Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG). Remote payment transactions are payment transactions that are initiated via the Internet or by means of a device that can be used for remote communication. Therefore, remote payment transactions always include payment orders placed online (e.g. the use of a credit card in e-commerce).
It is unclear whether payments with a smartphone that are initiated at the POS are also considered remote payment transactions. The concept of remote payment transactions is particularly important for the question of whether strong customer authentication is required and whether the requirements of Section 25i para. 2 of the German Banking Act (KWG) are met.