Fees for card-based payments

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2015/751 on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

This regulation caps interchange fees. It increases transparency on fees thus permitting retailers to know the level of fees paid when accepting cards. It enhances competition by providing consumers with more and better choices between different types of payment cards and service providers.

KEY POINTS

Specifically, the regulation:

caps interchange fees at 0.2% of the transaction value for consumer debit cards and at 0.3% for consumer credit cards;
as regards consumer credit cards, allows EU countries to define percentage caps lower than 0.3%;
as regards consumer debit card transactions, allows EU countries to impose a fee of no more than 5 eurocents per transaction interchange fee in combination with the 0.2% cap;
provides for a limited number of exemptions, such as business cards used only for business expenses being charged directly to the account of the company;
increases transparency on the level of fees paid by retailers, thus enabling them more easily to select which payment cards to accept.

The regulation is part of a package that includes also the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), on which political agreement was reached in May 2015. The package aims to promote the digital single market by making payments safer and cheaper and paves the way for innovative payment technologies.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 8 June 2015.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

Card, internet and mobile payments (European Commission)
Payment services (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2015/751 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions (OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, pp. 1-15)