EU Makes Final Ruling on Cross-Border Interchange (Sept. 11, 2014)
The European Union’s Court of Justice has ruled that interchange fees charged for cross-border card payments by MasterCard were too high, bringing an end to a seven-year court battle over the fees. In a ruling yesterday, the Court of Justice upheld a lower court’s 2012 verdict, which confirmed the European Commission’s initial 2007 finding against MasterCard’s fees.
With the final, non-appealable decision in place, MasterCard has agreed to cap interchange fees for cross-border transactions within the EU at 0.2 percent for debit cards and 0.3 percent for credit cards—rates in line with the caps currently pending approval by the EU. Javier Perez, president, MasterCard Europe, called the ruling “disappointing,” but added that the judgment will have “little or no impact” on how MasterCard operates, as the network already was complying with the EC’s initial decision.
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