18 Amendments of Jean-Paul GAUZÈS related to 2013/0265(COD)
Amendment 31 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Preparation of legislation is under way in several Member States21 to regulate interchange fees, covering a number of issues, including caps on interchange fees at various levels, merchant fees, the Honour All Cards rules or steering measures. The existing administrative decisions in some Member States vary significantly. In view of the harmfulness of interchange fees to retailers and consumersTo make the levels of interchange fees more consistent, a further introduction of regulatory measures at national level aimed at addressing the level or divergencies of these fees is anticipated. Such national measures would be likely to lead to significant barriers to the completion of the internal market in the area of cards, internet and mobile payments based on cards and would therefore hinder the freedom to provide services. __________________ 21 Italy, Hungary, Poland and the United Kingdom .
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) Payment cards are the most frequently used electronic payment instrument for retail purchases. However, integration of the Union payment card market is far from complete as many payment solutions cannot develop beyond their national borders or new pan-Union providers are prevented from entering the market. The lack of market integration currently results in higher prices and less choice in payment services for consumers and retailers, and more limited opportunities tActive cooperation among national and international networks has meant that, since 1987, European consumers have been able to use their payment cards throughout Europe as easily as in their countries of origin. To take full advantage of the internal market. T, there is therefore a need to remove obstacles to the efficient funcintegrationing of thenew card market- payment options, including mobile and internet payments that are based on card transactions which still pose barriers to the deployment of a fully integrated market.
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) One of the key practices hIn most Member States, indtering 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 legislationchange fees are subject not to any legislation but rather to decisions by the national competition authorities. Interchange fees are inter-bank fees usually applied between the card-acquiring payment service providers and the card-issuing payment service providers belonging to a certain card scheme. Interchange fees are a main part of the fees charged to merchants by acquiring payment service providers for every card transaction. Merchants in turn incorporate these card costs, like all their other 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. Regulatingnsistent application of the competition rules to interchange fees would improve the functioning of the internal market.
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) The currently existing wide variety of interchange fees and their level prevent the emergence of 'new' pan Union players on the basis of 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 international card payment schemes require, on the basis of their territorial licensing policies, the application of the interchange fee of the '‘Point of Sale'’ (country of the retailer) for each payment transaction. This prevents acquiring bankers from successfully offering their services on a cross -border basis. It can also prevents retailers from reducing their payment costs to the benefit of consumers.
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) This Regulation follows a gradual approach. As a first step, it is necessary to take measures to facilitate cross-borderapplies equally to cross-border and to national issuing and acquiring of payment card transactions. AllowingIf merchants tocan choose an acquirer outside their own Member State ('‘cross -border’ acquiring') and imposing, which will be facilitated by the imposition of a maximum level of cross- border interchange fees for cross border acquired transactions should provide the necessary legal clarity. In addition, licences for issuing or acquiring of payment instruments should be valid without geographic restrictions within the Union. These measures would facilitate the smooth functioning of an internal market for card, internet and mobile payments, to the benefit of consumers and retailerand the prohibition of territorial licensing, it should be possible to provide the necessary legal clarity and to prevent distortions of competition between payment-card systems.
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) As a consequence of unilateral undertakings and commitments accepted in the framework of competition proceedings, many cross-border card payment transactions in the Union are already carried out respecting the maximum interchanges fees applicable to the first phase of this Regulation. Therefore, all the provisions relating to those transactions should enter into force quickly, creating opportunities for retailers to seek cheaper acquiring services cross-border, and incentivising domestic banking communities or schemes to lower their acquiring feand to national transactions should enter into force simultaneously and within a reasonable period of time, taking account of the difficulty and complexity of the migration of payment-card systems, which this Regulation necessitates.
Amendment 113 #
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 with 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/initiated transaction carried out with a debit card. A debit card is a card all the payment transactions on which are debited immediately. Prepaid cards are debit cards;
Amendment 121 #
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 the transaction transaction carried out with a credit card. A credit card is a card enabling its usettled more than 48 hours after the transaction has been authorised/initr to carry out payment transactions which are not debited immediatedly;
Amendment 134 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8
(8) ‘cross-border payment transaction’ means a card payment or card-based payment transaction initiated by a payer or by a payee where the payer's payment service provider andor the payee's payment service provider areoint of sale is established in a different Member States than the payee's payment service provider or where the payment card is issued by an issuing payment service provider established in a different Member State than that of the point of sale;
Amendment 139 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9
(9) '‘interchange fee'’ means a fee paid for each transaction directly or indirectly (i.e. through a third party) between the payment service providers of the payer and of the payee involved in a payment card or a payment card-based transaction, in return for the services provided by the payment service provider of the payer to that of the payee. These services include security, payment guarantees and processing fees;
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10
(10) '‘merchant service charge'’ means a fee paid by the payee to the acquirer for each transaction comprising the interchange fee, the payment scheme and processing fee and the acquirer margin, and negotiated freely between them, in return for services provided by the acquirer so as to enable the payee to accept payment- card transactions;
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 16
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 16
(16) '‘payment instrument'’ means any personalised device(s) and/or set of procedures agreed between the payment service user and the payment service provider and used by the payment service user, or inby its behalfthird-party payment services provider, in order to initiate a payment order;
Amendment 160 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. With effect from two monthyears after the entry into force of this Regulation, payment services providers shall not offer or request for cross-border debit card transactions a per transaction interchange fee or other agreed remuneration with an equivalent object or effect of more than 0.2% of the value of the transactionthe interchange fee applied on the weighted yearly average of all debit card transactions effected between issuers and acquirers shall not be more than 0.2%.
Amendment 175 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 2
2. With effect from two monthyears after the entry into force of this Regulation, payment services providers shall not offer or request for cross-border credit card transactions a per transaction interchange fee or other agreed remuneration with an equivalent object or effect of more than 0,3 % of the value of the transactionthe interchange fee applied on the weighted yearly average of all credit card transactions effected between issuers and acquirers shall not be more than 0.3%.
Amendment 195 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
1. With effect from two years after the entry into force of this Regulation, card payment service providers shall not offer or request a per, for any debit-card-based transactions, an interchange fee or other agreed remuneration with an equivalent object or effect of more than 0,2 %.2%, based on a yearly weighted average, of the value of thesuch transaction for any debit card based transactions. Within that average, the interchange levels may not exceed 0.5%. Transactions involving small amounts may be subject to specific interchange fees.
Amendment 213 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. With effect from two years after the entry into force of this Regulation, card payment service providers shall not offer or request a per, for any credit-card-based transactions, an interchange fee or other agreed remuneration with an equivalent object or effect of more than 0,3 %.3%, based on a yearly weighted average, of the value of thesuch transaction for any credit card based transactions. Within that average, the interchange levels may not exceed 0.5%. Transactions involving small amounts may be subject to specific interchange fees.
Amendment 312 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Amendment 316 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The business rules concerning cards set out in Chapter III shall apply to new cards issued as of the date on which this Regulation enters into force.