# ECB Payments Consultation Scraper (`vixendata/ecb-payments-consultations`) Actor

Track ECB payments consultations, source deadlines, lifecycle status and official document and outcome links. Original ECB information is free.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/vixendata/ecb-payments-consultations.md
- **Developed by:** [Vixendata](https://apify.com/vixendata) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 recognized consultation/publication/alert metadata records

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## ECB Payments Consultation Scraper

Turn ECB payments consultation pages into a small, structured lifecycle feed: titles, official status, submission deadlines, PDF/document links and published outcome links. Useful for payments compliance teams maintaining consultation calendars and policy inventories.

**FREE ORIGINAL SOURCE:** The original information is available free of charge on the [ECB website](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/intro/cons/html/index.en.html). Any fee is for this independent extraction service, not exclusive access to ECB information. This output modifies presentation by extracting and restructuring metadata. It is not an official ECB publication.

### Quick start

Run with `{ "maxItems": 5, "includeDetails": true }`. Export the default Apify dataset as JSON or CSV. Nested link arrays are best retained as JSON. `RUN_SUMMARY` in the default key-value store reports coverage, counts, truncation, completion and errors. Failed runs can contain partial records; check the summary and run status.

Optional `consultationUrls` selects exact consultation detail URLs found in the supported payments rows of the current catalog. It never expands scope to arbitrary pages. The catalog is always fetched because it owns lifecycle status and deadlines. `includeDetails: false` performs only robots and catalog requests.

### What a record contains

- `title`, `consultationUrl`, `source`, `status` as stated in the catalog heading
- `listDate`, with `listDateMeaning` explicitly unspecified; `openingDate` remains null because the catalog does not label that date as opening
- `deadlineDate` (ISO date), `deadlineTimeText`, `deadlineTimezoneText` only when explicit; no inferred UTC conversion
- `documentLinks`, `outcomeLinks`, `correspondingLinks`: labeled source links, never downloaded attachments
- `detailFetched`, `detailTitle` when enriched, `listUrl`, `observedAt`, attribution, free-source notice and license URL

Example observed source row: Appia project, Under review, list date 2026-03-11, deadline 2026-04-22 at 22:00 CET. An expired deadline does not override the source's status. T2 completed consultations include official outcome links. Having no currently open consultations is valid.

### Scope and limitations

This MVP covers the current public catalog HTML's payments-title subset (Appia, T2, payment systems, RTGS, TIPS, digital euro, cyber resilience or SIPS) with a primary consultation detail link. It skips PDF-only rows, outcome-only entries, interest-rate consultations, pagination, unseen archive pages and supervisory consultations. At most 20 records; default 5. Explicit URL selection must match that subset. This is not an economic-release calendar, full ECB archive, change-alert service, investment recommendation or legal/financial advice. Source structure can change; inspect error diagnostics rather than assuming zero means no consultations.

### Responsible access

Fixed `www.ecb.europa.eu` HTTPS fetch host, exact catalog/detail paths, standard runtime HTTP transport (including infrastructure egress when configured), no user-selectable target or scraping proxy, no login, no redirects, no retries or access-control workarounds. Reads robots first, conservatively checks wildcard exclusions, and waits at least 5.1 seconds between every request, honoring longer source delays up to 60 seconds (larger delays stop the run). Stops on 401/403/429 or any non-200 response. Caps: 22 requests, 20 records, 2 MiB/page, 25-second request timeout, 240-second elapsed cap checked before each request. A final request may finish after the elapsed cap. No `*_content.*.html` routes, PDF downloads or submitted-response contents. Run one instance at a time; parallel runs do not coordinate pacing.

### Source reuse and attribution

Source: European Central Bank (ECB), https://www.ecb.europa.eu/.

Copyright © for the entire content of this website: European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

[ECB copyright and disclaimer terms](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/services/using-our-site/disclaimer/html/index.en.html) govern source material. This Actor preserves a free-original disclosure and modification notice in every record. When offering paid access to these results, show the free-original disclosure before any fee/subscription and at every access. Do not remove those fields. Reuse must be accurate, credit ECB, disclose modifications, and avoid framing ECB pages. Named-author Working/Occasional Papers, logos and third-party works are not reproduced; linked documents remain subject to their own rights. No claim of public-domain status or ECB endorsement.

Code is provided for the owner's private Actor deployment; source content is not relicensed by this project.

### Validation

Install `requirements.txt`, then run `python -m unittest -v`. Portable fixtures contain the verbatim main elements of official catalog/Appia pages captured with HTTP 200 on 2026-10-05 and the official robots file. Tests cover source status/date/link extraction, scope validation, malformed dates, off-host rejection, redirect refusal and a positive run with the real Apify SDK and local storage using fixture transport. This fixture SDK test does not claim a live Apify deployment. Local live access can depend on the execution network. No paid run or publication is required to run these tests.

# Actor input Schema

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum records returned, 1–20. Default 5; the catalog and robots file each require one request.

## `consultationUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional exact HTTPS detail URLs on www.ecb.europa.eu/press/intro/cons/html/\*.en.html. Must appear among supported payments rows in the current catalog. Empty selects catalog order. No queries/fragments/content endpoints.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each selected consultation page to add official document/corresponding links. Disable for catalog metadata only. No documents are downloaded.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 5,
  "consultationUrls": [],
  "includeDetails": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("vixendata/ecb-payments-consultations").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("vixendata/ecb-payments-consultations").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call vixendata/ecb-payments-consultations --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,vixendata/ecb-payments-consultations"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/KB0Si6pmJbJsrrZDd/builds/MVDDEivACGqso3afS/openapi.json