1.   Member States shall ensure that an account servicing payment service provider shall, upon the request of a payment service provider issuing card-based payment instruments, immediately confirm whether an amount necessary for the execution of a card-based payment transaction is available on the payment account of the payer, provided that all of the following conditions are met:

(a) the payment account of the payer is accessible online at the time of the request;

(b) the payer has given explicit consent to the account servicing payment service provider to respond to requests from a specific payment service provider to confirm that the amount corresponding to a certain card-based payment transaction is available on the payer’s payment account;

(c) the consent referred to in point (b) has been given before the first request for confirmation is made.

2.   The payment service provider may request the confirmation referred to in paragraph 1 where all of the following conditions are met:

(a) the payer has given explicit consent to the payment service provider to request the confirmation referred to in paragraph 1;

(b) the payer has initiated the card-based payment transaction for the amount in question using a card based payment instrument issued by the payment service provider;

(c) the payment service provider authenticates itself towards the account servicing payment service provider before each confirmation request, and securely communicates with the account servicing payment service provider in accordance with point (d) of Article 98(1).

3.   In accordance with Directive 95/46/EC, the confirmation referred to in paragraph 1 shall consist only in a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer and not in a statement of the account balance. That answer shall not be stored or used for purposes other than for the execution of the card-based payment transaction.

4.   The confirmation referred to in paragraph 1 shall not allow for the account servicing payment service provider to block funds on the payer’s payment account.

5.   The payer may request the account servicing payment service provider to communicate to the payer the identification of the payment service provider and the answer provided.

6.   This Article does not apply to payment transactions initiated through card-based payment instruments on which electronic money as defined in point (2) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/110/EC is stored.