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Competition and Market Authority
Notice to companies on the prohibition to charge fees for the use of credit / debit cards or other payment instruments
The Authority has received information concerning the application of a price supplement for the purchase of various goods and services (such as tickets and subscriptions for public transport, laundry services, drinks and food) by credit card / flow, by commercial, even small, distributed throughout the national territory. In addition, various reports were received regarding the tobacconists' application of a surcharge (often equal to € 1) for the purchase of debit / credit cards for cigarettes, tax stamps, public transport tickets.
The Authority has intervened on several occasions to badert the principle that the application of supplements for the use of a specific payment instrument constitutes a violation of Article 62 of the Code of consumption, which establishes that sellers of goods and services to final consumers "may not charge consumers, with regard to the use of certain payment instruments, fees for the use of such instruments ".
The general prohibition imposed on the recipient of a payment to charge the payer an additional fee, in relation to the cost of the good or service, related to the use of payment instruments , was reiterated in Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market (known as "PSD2"), implemented by the Legislative Decree of 15 December 2017, n. 218.
Under these rules, retailers of goods and retail services can not therefore apply surcharges on the price of goods or services sold to those who use, for their payments, instruments such as credit or debit. whatever the issuer of the card.
The Authority has already intervened in many areas to sanction the application of surcharges for the use of certain means of payment, describing it as an infringement of the consumer's rights set out in the Act. ; article. 62 of the Consumer Code:
Autorité de la concurrence and the market 2
(i) in the air transport sector, airlines were sanctioned for the application of a surcharge for the payment by credit card of air tickets purchased online on their sites;
(ii) in the electricity and natural gas retail trade, some major operators have been sanctioned for sanctioning payment by means other than direct debit or credit card debit (eg postal orders). ) or having imposed the payment of credit card surcharges on their websites;
(iii) in the online sale of travel services, some major online travel agencies were sanctioned for requesting the payment of surcharges for the online purchase of their credit card services; for the same reason, a travel agency specializing in the sale of sea transport tickets and another specialized in the sale of air tickets have also been sanctioned;
(iv) when renewing subscriptions for transit and car agencies.
This prohibition applies to all commercial operators, including specialized retailers, even the smallest ones (tobaccos, hardware stores, laundries, butchers, vegetables, etc.).
The Authority therefore invites all commercial operators, including small sellers of goods and services, who wish to offer consumers the opportunity to use more means of payment for the purchase of goods and services sold, to comply with the requirements of the Consumer Code and Legislative Decree 218/2017, eliminating any price surcharge applied in connection with the use by consumers of credit or debit cards or other means of payment.
If the Authority finds violations of the aforementioned prohibition, it reserves the right to activate its sanctioning powers, in accordance with art. 27 of the Consumer Code.
Rome, November 26, 2018
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