Brussels, 10/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 March, the European Parliament endorsed the inter-institutional agreement on multilateral investment fees (MIF) for automatic debit and credit card payments (see EUROPE 11235).
“This legislation, combined with the upcoming Payment Services Directive, will establish a level playing field for payments across Europe. It should enhance fee transparency, stimulate competition and enable both retailers and users to choose the card schemes that offer them the best terms”, said Pablo Zalba (EPP, Spain), who steered the discussions at the Parliament.
For credit card transactions, fees will be capped at 0.3% of transaction value.
For all debit card transactions, the agreed fee cap is 0.2% of transaction value. For smaller domestic debit card transactions, however, member states may also set a maximum fixed fee of €0.05 per transaction (subject to conditions), in combination with the 0.2% cap. And over a five year transition period, they will be able to apply the 0.2% cap calculated on the annual weighted average transaction value of all domestic transactions within the card scheme.
The so-called “three-party” card schemes created by the Diners and American Express companies have been exempted on the condition that MIF is applied.
The MIF are paid by the retailer's bank to the bank that issued the card used for the transaction. The fees are permitted in some member states at different maximum levels (up to 1.5%) but are banned in others. According to the Commission, consumer organisations and trade companies, the MIF generate excessive revenues for the MasterCard and Visa networks and are ultimately reflected in the prices paid for goods by consumers. (Mathieu Bion)