10 Amendments of Adam BIELAN related to 2013/0265(COD)
Amendment 20 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) One of the key practices hindering the functioning of the internal market in card and card-based payments is the widespread existence of interchange fees, which are in most Member States not subject to any legislation. Interchange fees are inter-bank fees usually applied between thepassed from card- acquiring payment service providers and theto card-issuing payment service providers belonging to a certain cardthe relevant scheme. Interchange fees are a main parcomponent of the fees charged to merchants by acquiring payment service providers for every card transaction. Merchants in turn incorporate these card costs in the general prices of goods and services. Competition between card schemes appears in practice to be largely aimed at convincing as many issuing payment service providers (e.g. banks) as possible to issue their cards, which usually leads to higher rather than lower interchange fees on the market, in contrast with the usual price disciplining effect of competition in a market economy. Regulating interchange fees would improve the functioning of the internal market.
Amendment 21 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) The currently existing wide varietyhigh level of interchange fees and their levelmay prevent the emergence of ‘new’ pan Union players on the basis of different business models with lower interchange fees, to the detriment of potential economies of scale and scope and their resulting efficiencies. This has a negative impact on retailers and consumers and prevents innovation. As Pan-Union players would have to offer issuing banks as a minimum the highest level of interchange fee prevailing in the market they want to enter it also results in persisting market fragmentation. Existing domestic schemes with lower or no interchange fees may also be forced to exit the market because of the pressure from banks to obtain higher interchange fees revenues. As a result, consumers and merchants face restricted choice, higher prices and lower quality of payment services while their ability to use pan- Union payment solutions is restricted. In addition, retailers cannot overcome the fee differences by making use of card acceptance services offered by banks in other Member States. Specific rules applied by the payment schemes require the application of the interchange fee of the ‘Point of Sale’ (country of the retailer) for each payment transaction. This prevents acquiring banks from successfully offering their services on a cross border basis. It also prevents retailers from reducing their payment costs to the benefit of consumers.
Amendment 27 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 29
Recital 29
(29) The Honour all Cards Rule is a twofold obligation imposed by issuing payment services providers and payment card schemes on payees to, on the one hand, accept all the cards of the same brand (‘Honour all Products’ - element), irrespective of the different costs of these cards, and on the other hand irrespective of the individual issuing bank which has issued the card (‘Honour all Issuers’ – element). It is in the interest of the consumer that for the same category of cards with the same fee the payee cannot discriminate between issuers or cardholders, and payments schemes and payment service providers can impose such obligation on them. Therefore, although the ‘Honour all Issuers’ element of the Honour all Cards Rule is a justifiable rule within a payment card system, since it prevents that payees from discriminating between the individual banks which have issued a card, the ‘Honour all Products’ element is essentially a tying practice that has the effect of tying acceptance of low fee cards to acceptance of high fee cards. A removal of the ‘Honour all Products’ element of the Honour All Cards Rule would allow merchants to limit the choice of payment cards they offer to low(er) cost payment cards only, which would also benefit consumers through reduced merchants' costs. Merchants accepting debit cards would then not be forced also to accept credit cards, and those accepting credit cards would not be forced to accept commercial cards. However, to protect the consumer and his ability to use the payment cards as often as possible, merchants should be obliged to accept all cards that are subject to the same regulated interchange fee. Such a limitation would also result in a more competitive environment for cards with interchange fees not regulated under this Regulation, as merchants would gain more negotiating power as regards the conditions under which they accept such cards.
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. This Regulation does not apply to payment card transactions carried out under payment card scheme in respect of which the total number of cards issued to customers in the Union by or under the relevant payment card scheme is 1% or less of the total number of payment cards issued by all payment card schemes in the Union.
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point c
(c) transactions with cards issued byunder three party payment card schemes.
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4
(4) ‘'debit card transaction’' means an card payment transaction included withing prepaid cards linked to a current or deposit access account to which a transaction is debited in less than or 48 hours after the transaction has been authorised/initiatedtwo business days after the receipt of the payment order by the issuer.
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5
(5) ‘'credit card transaction’' means an card payment transaction where thea transaction is settleddebited in more than 48 hours after the transaction has been authorised/initiatedtwo business days after the receipt of the payment order by the issuer;
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
1. Payment card schemes and processing entities shall be independent in terms of legal form, organisation and decision making. They shall not discriminate in any way between their subsidiaries or shareholders on the one hand and users of these schemes and other contractual partners on the other hand and shall not in particular make the provision of any service they offer conditional in any way on the acceptance by their contractual party of any other service they offer.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
1. Acquirers shall offer and charge payees individually specified merchant service charges for different categories and different brands of payment cards with different interchange fee levels unless merchants request in writing acquiring payment services providers to charge blended merchant services charges.
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 1
Article 10 – paragraph 1
1. Payment schemes and payment service providers shall not apply any rule that may oblige payees accepting cards and other payment instruments issued by one issuing payment service provider within the framework of a payment instruments scheme to also accept other payment instruments of the same brand and/or category issued by other issuing payment service providers within the framework of the same scheme, except if they are subject to the same regulated interchange fee.