Payments System Board Consultation on Card Surcharging June 2011

At its meeting on 20 May, the Payments System Board decided to hold a public consultation on potential modifications to the ‘no-surcharge’ Standards that apply to the credit card and scheme debit card systems in Australia.

The Board is concerned that in recent years some surcharging practices, including surcharging well in excess of card acceptance costs, may have reduced the effectiveness of previous surcharging reforms. The Board believes that, while the reforms have improved the efficiency of the payments system, including by improving price signals to cardholders, there may be a case for varying the Standards to allow schemes to place some limits on the level of surcharging. Accordingly, it is seeking the views of interested parties on both the case for doing so and the most suitable approach.