Comment by HarlequinHair

You seem to fail to understand that every country has a different regulation. First of all, in a lot of countries it is mandatory to have traced payments, so no cash can be involved. Then, every country has different taxation. A lot of EU countries tax you just because you have a foreign bank account.

Also, theory and practice are very different. While I agree you can fight back for your rights, I remember having contacted different kind authorities for 7 months because a company was rejecting my SEPA IBAN. Unfortunately, that was the only company I could use for that mandatory service, and after they got fined, they happily continued accepting only national IBANs.

The result has been months of frustration, endless calls/appointments with authorities to gain nothing. If I could go back, I would give them a different IBAN, even if on a theory level they were wrong.