Brussels, 03/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has reacted to the ruling of the European General Court on Friday 30 November in case T-491/07 upholding the Commission's finding in 2007 that Groupement des cartes bancaires (“CB”) restricted competition with certain fees and tariffs which hindered the issuance of payment cards in France by new entrants, in breach of EU antitrust rules (see EUROPE 9525).
The Groupement des Cartes Bancaires manages CB, the largest and most important payment card scheme in France. The Commission's 2007 decision found that the Groupement had restricted competition by imposing certain tariff measures on new members and a “sleeper member fee” on members that had not developed significant bank card business since their adhesion. The Commission found that the measure shut out new entrants (retailers' banks, internet banks) from the market for the issuance of payment cards in France because even though they applied indistinctly to all members, they were applied in such a way as to hinder the issuing of cards by smaller banks or online banks which were prepared to offer cards at lower prices.
The General Court rejected CB's argument that the tariff measures should not have been classified as a restriction “by object” since they had the legitimate objective of combating free-riding. The court says that possible legitimate objectives do not prevent measures from restricting competition by their object; however they can be taken into account, when assessing whether a measure could be exempted from the general prohibition of restrictive business practices because it promotes innovation and allows passing on a fair share of the benefits to consumers.
This is the third judgment in eighteen months confirming the Commission's enforcement of competition rules in the payment card market: MasterCard on 24 May 2012 (Case T-111/08) (see EUROPE 10620) and Visa on 14 April 2011 (Case T-461/07) (see EUROPE 10359). On 3 October 2012, the Commission announced in the Single Market Act II that it plans to propose revisions to the Payment Services Directive and new legislation on interchange fees for card payments. (MB/transl.fl)