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EuroCommerce, a trade group for Europe's retail, wholesale and international trade sectors, has lodged a complaint with European competition authorities over costs associated with accepting Visa-branded payment cards. The group filed the complaint against Visa Europe with the European Commission's directorate-general for competition, Cécile Grégoire, EuroCommerce's senior adviser on payment systems, tells CardLine Global Monday. The complaint centers around cross-border interchange rates, also called "multilateral interchange fees." Grégoire says "neither Visa nor MasterCard have been able to justify the existence of the [fees]." The complaint represents the latest attack by the merchant group on what it calls high card-acceptance costs for businesses. The group prefers a fixed-rate pricing scheme for card transactions, not interchange rates based on the purchase amount. Earlier this year, under European Commission pressure, MasterCard Worldwide slashed its cross-border debit and credit card interchange rates (CardLine Global, 8 April). In December 2007, the commission ruled that MasterCard's rates violated competition rules. MasterCard appealed that decision. The commission has accused Visa Europe of similar practices. "We trust that the European Commission will take against Visa a similar decision as the one against MasterCard in December 2007," Grégoire says. Visa Europe did not respond to CardLine Global requests for comment.
