23 Amendments of Pablo ARIAS ECHEVERRÍA related to 2013/0265(COD)
Amendment 45 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) For domestic transactions, a transition period is necessary to provide payment services providers and schemes with time to adapt to the new requirements. Therefore, after a two yearsix month period following the entry into force of this Regulation and in order to provide for a completion of an internal market for card- based payments, the caprules on interchange fees for consumer card transactions should be extended to cover all, cross-border and domestic payments.
Amendment 67 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) It is important to ensure that the provisions concerning the interchange fees to be paid or received by payment service providers are not circumvented by alternative flows of fees to issuing payment services providers. To avoid this, the ‘'net compensation’' of fees paid and received by the issuing payment service provider from a payment card scheme should be considered as the interchange fee. When calculating the interchange fee, for the purpose of checking whether circumvention is taking place the total amount of payments or incentives received by an issuing payment services provider from a payment card scheme with respect to the regulated transactions less the fees paid by the issuing payment services provider to the scheme and the monetary incentives or equivalent received by a cardholder from a payment card scheme should be taken into account. PAll payments, incentives and fees considered could be, whether direct (i.e. volume- based or transaction- specific) or indirect (including marketing incentives, bonuses, rebates for meeting certain transaction volumes), in addition to any monetary or other incentives directed at the cardholder, shall be considered under this assessment. For the purposes of this Regulation, the estimated corresponding amount of direct or indirect incentives or equivalent should not be spread over more than a one-year period and should not be amortised for inflation or other purposes.
Amendment 78 #
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 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 all 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. Failing this, all consumers including those not able to afford expensive cards or paying with cash or cheaper cards would cross- subsidise the use of expensive cards by better off consumers. Retailers including small retailers could also, if forced to accept the most expensive cards, decide not to accept card-based payments but turn to cash. 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. These cost- savings would in turn benefit all consumers through lower retail prices
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) For the effective functioning of the limitations to the Honour All Cards Rule certain information is indispensable. First, payees and payers should have the means to identify the different categories of cards. Therefore, the various categories should be identifiable visibly and electronically on the device or the terminal as appropriate. Secondly, also the payer should be informedclearly and comprehensively informed in an understandable manner about the acceptance of his payment instrument(s) at a given point of sale. It is necessary that any limitation on the use of a given brand to be announced by the payee to the payer at the same time and under the same conditions as the information that a given brand is accepted.
Amendment 88 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Regulation lays down uniform technical and business requirements for payment card based payment transactions carried out within the Union, where both the payee and the payer's payment service provider and the payee's payment service provider are establishlocated therein.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point a
Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point a
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point c
Amendment 119 #
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 127 #
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/initiated;two business days after the receipt of the payment order by the issuer.
Amendment 128 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6
Amendment 136 #
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 and the payee's payment service provider are established in different Member States 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, including when a payee is using the services of an acquirer located in another Member State;
Amendment 140 #
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, and includes fees applied by 3-party schemes by way of any internal transfer between the acquiring side and the issuing side of the same legal entity;
Amendment 205 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
1. With effect from two yearsix months after the entry into force of this Regulation, payment service providers shall not offer or request 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 transaction for any debit card based transactions.
Amendment 222 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. With effect from two yearsix months after the entry into force of this Regulation, payment service providers shall not offer or request 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 transaction for any credit card based transactions.
Amendment 230 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
For the purposes of the application of the caps referred to in Article 3 and Article 4, any net compensation received by an issuing bank from a payment card scheme in relation to payment transactions or related activities shall be treated as part of the interchange feeand the monetary incentives or equivalent received by a cardholder from a card scheme shall be treated as part of the interchange fee. These amounts shall not be amortised or spread over more than a one year period for assessing the net compensation.
Amendment 241 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 a (new)
Article 6 a (new)
Article 6a For cross-border transactions, the interchange fee applicable is the interchange fee of the country of the acquirer.
Amendment 255 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
1. Any schemes rules and rules in licensing agreements or measures of equivalent effect that hinder or prevent an issuer from co-badging two or more different brands of payment instruments on a card, telecommunication, digital or IT device shall be prohibited.
Amendment 261 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 2
Article 8 – paragraph 2
2. Any difference in treatment of issuers or acquirers in schemes rules and rules in licensing agreements concerning co- badging or equivalent co-residing of different brands or applications on a card, telecommunication, digital or IT device shall be objectively justified and non- discriminatory.
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 3
Article 8 – paragraph 3
3. Payment card schemes shall not impose reporting requirements, obligations to pay fees or other obligations with the same object or effect on card issuing and acquiring payment services providers for transactions carried out with any card, telecommunication, digital or IT device on which their brand is present in relation to transactions for which their scheme is not used.
Amendment 265 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 4
Article 8 – paragraph 4
4. Any routing principles aimed at directing transactions through a specific channel or process and other technical and security standards and requirements with respect to the handling of more than one payment card brand on a card, telecommunication, digital or IT device shall be non-discriminatory and shall be applied in a non-discriminatory manner, giving the payee the possibility of refusing certain cards or other payment instruments in accordance with Article 10 of this regulation.
Amendment 267 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 4
Article 8 – paragraph 4
4. Any routing principles aimed at directing transactions through a specific channel or process and other technical and security standards and requirements with respect to the handling of more than one payment card brand or equivalent on a card, telecommunication, digital or IT device shall be non-discriminatory and shall be applied in a non-discriminatory manner.
Amendment 283 #
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 schemebased on these to also accept other payment instruments of the same brand and/or category, except if they are subject to the same regulated interchange fee.
Amendment 297 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 4
Article 10 – paragraph 4
4. Issuing payment service providers shall ensure that their payment instruments are visibly and electronically identifiable, enabling payees and payers to identify unequivocally which brands and categories of prepaid, debit, credit or commercial cards or card based payments based on these are chosen by the payer.