On Thursday 3 August, the European Commission decided to send Visa Inc. and Visa International a further statement of objections concerning the fees that retailers in the European Economic Area (EEA) must pay to the banks of consumers outside the EEA when these consumers use a Visa card to make purchases.
This additional statement of objections comes as part of the investigation being carried out by the institution since 26 March 2008 (see EUROPE 9630) into the companies concerning multilateral interchange fees (MIF) applicable in the EEA. The document sent on Thursday follows another additional statement of objections dated 31 July 2012 (see EUROPE 10667) regarding MIF. The company subsequently undertook to reduce the fees. The Commission made these commitments legally binding on Wednesday 26 February (see EUROPE 11027), but the companies have not kept to them. Furthermore, the subjects covered did not concern purchases made within the EEA by individuals from third countries, mainly tourists and travellers.
The statement of objections issued on 3 August concerns practices not referred to in 2014 and also includes transactions on debit cards, rather than just credit cards. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)