Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Issues Paper –
October 2024 3. Next Steps

3.1 Consultation process and future phases of the Review

Following the release of this issues paper, stakeholders will have seven weeks to make a written submission (see Sections 3.2 to 3.6 for further details). The RBA may reach out to those who make a submission to discuss it in further detail. Stakeholder views from written submissions and discussions will be considered in developing potential regulatory options for the Review.

The RBA will then conduct a public consultation process ahead of any proposed regulatory changes. This will take the form of a consultation paper with detailed analysis of potential regulatory options. The paper is planned for release in 2025, and stakeholders will again be invited to provide written submissions and the RBA will conduct a further round of discussions. The final step will involve a conclusions paper that outlines the decisions made by the PSB and any regulatory changes stemming from these decisions.

Future phases of the broader Review of Retail Payments Regulation will follow a similar process. There are other payments-related issues aside from merchant card payment costs and surcharging that affect the safety, efficiency and competitiveness of the Australian payments system. Examples include, but are not limited to, mobile wallets, online LCR and buy now, pay later products. However, there is uncertainty as to whether the RBA’s regulatory remit extends to the relevant industry participants under the existing PSRA. Consideration of these broader issues would be subject to the passage of the amendments to the PSRA that are before the Australian Parliament. Stakeholders wishing to provide views on these matters would be invited to make submissions during subsequent phases of the Review.

3.2 Making a submission

The RBA is seeking views from interested stakeholders on the issues raised in this paper. Written submissions on the issues discussed in Section 2 should be provided by 3 December 2024 to:

pysubmissions@rba.gov.au

or

Head of Payments Policy Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
GPO Box 3947
Sydney NSW 2001

The RBA asks that, where it is practicable to do so, submissions are provided by email.

Submissions provided by email should be in a separate document, in Word or equivalent format. Submissions in PDF format must be accompanied by a version in an accessible format such as .rtf or .doc.

3.3 What happens to submissions

Your submission will be read by RBA staff working on, or involved with, the relevant consultation process to which your submission relates.

In the interests of informed public debate, the RBA is committed to transparency in its processes and open access to information. Accordingly, the RBA aims to publish submissions on its website where it is appropriate to do so. However, the RBA reserves the right to redact (e.g. remove defamatory material or, where appropriate, de-identify personal or sensitive information), publish or not publish submissions on its website at its own discretion. The RBA’s publication of a submission is not an indication of the RBA’s endorsement of any views or comments contained in that submission.

Most submissions that are published on the RBA website will include the name of the submitter (unless requested otherwise – see Section 3.5). If a submission is published, the information in it, including the submitter’s name and any contact details, can be searched for on the internet. You cannot withdraw or alter your submission once the RBA has published it.

3.4 Submissions may be kept confidential

If you do not want some or all of your submission to be published by the RBA, you should clearly indicate this (e.g. by including the word confidential prominently on the front of your submission) and provide reasons for your request. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails are not sufficient for this purpose.

Where some parts of your submission are considered to be confidential, the RBA requests that you provide two versions of the submission at the same time prior to the closing date – one for consideration by the RBA and one, with confidential information removed, for publication (this latter version may also have contact details or other personal information removed – see Section 3.5).

Please also note that any submission provided to the RBA may be the subject of a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth). Any request for access to a confidential submission will be determined by the RBA in accordance with that Act, including any applicable exemptions (e.g. those relating to material obtained in confidence or involving an unreasonable disclosure of personal information).

3.5 Privacy

Unless requested otherwise, published submissions will usually include contact details and any other personal information contained in those documents.

Where you provide a separate version of your submission for publication with contact details or other personal information redacted or removed, this will be taken as a request for the RBA not to publish such personal information.

For information about the RBA’s collection of personal information and approach to privacy, please refer to the Personal Information Collection Notice for Website Visitors and the RBA’s Privacy Policy, which are both available at Privacy.

3.6 Intellectual property rights

In making a submission to the RBA, you grant a permanent, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to allow the RBA to use, reproduce, publish, adapt and communicate to the public your submission on the RBA’s website (except to the extent that you have specifically requested that all or part of your submission is kept confidential), including converting your submission into a different format to that submitted for the purposes of meeting relevant accessibility requirements.

To the extent that your submission contains material that is owned by a third party, you warrant that you have obtained all necessary licences and consents required for the use of those materials (including for the RBA to use, reproduce, publish, adapt or communicate to the public such material), and have made arrangements for the payment of any royalties or other fees payable in respect of the use of such material.