Brussels, 04/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 3 April, the European consumer organisation (BEUC) described the European Parliament's vote in Brussels on the modernisation of the European payment services directive as potentially a major advance for consumers. Not only does this vote strengthen consumer rights as regards electronic payments, but it also opens the prospect of less costly bank card payments thank to the capping of the interchange fees that a cardholder's bank charges the trader's bank for card payments, BEUC believes (see EUROPE 11053).
“Consumers want their money to be safe and have easy remedies if things go wrong. So we welcome the consumers' fraud liability will decrease from €150 to €50. Member states can even scrap this fee altogether”, says Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC.
When it comes to consumer rights, the principles advanced concern: - a prohibition on card surcharges - for example, when buying travel tickets online; - decreased consumer liability in fraud incidents; - an unconditional refund right for direct debits - for example, when goods are not delivered; - an obligation on companies using the consumer's banking interface to conform to strict security measures when a consumer buys online - for example, ensuring sensitive account data is not given to third parties.
As regards interchange fees on credit card payments, these cannot exceed 0.3% of the amount of the transaction. For debit cards, the ceiling will be 0.2% or a maximum of €0.07. “It is clear, valuable progress that the majority of consumer card surcharges will be banned. This will stop this frustrating practice which leads to inflated prices when booking travel or sports tickets online. However welcome, it is only a first step. Consumers should be shielded from any surcharges when using any means of payment. It is absurd people are charged when paying for something”, adds Goyens. (AN)