
Auditors see deficiencies in price rules for card payments in the EU

Luxembourg (dpa) – According to a report by the European Court of Auditors, consumers in the EU could suffer under rules on setting prices for digital payments that apply in the EU.
For example, in the EU, there are bans on surcharges for card payments and transfers in the euro payment area, as well as a cap on fees that arise during a transaction via a card system. These so-called price interventions are intended to limit harmful effects of unfair competition.
EU Commission not obliged to control
However, the European Commission is not required to regularly review these price interventions – particularly card fees, criticize the EU auditors based in Luxembourg. They also found that it is not clearly regulated whether price interventions are justified or how long they should last.
«In some of the interventions in the area of card payments, the European Commission was unable to prove that the positive effects for consumers clearly outweigh the negative ones», said Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz of the Court of Auditors. Poorly designed price interventions led to inefficiency for payment service providers, distorted supply and demand in the market, and could have a negative impact on consumers and retailers in the worst case.
Billions of euros in card fees
The value of digital payments – such as paying by card or smartphone – in retail in the EU has more than doubled from 2017 to 2023 and surpassed the one trillion euro mark in 2023. According to the auditors’ estimates, consumers paid between five and six billion euros for card fees in 2023.
According to Statista, cashless payments have also gained importance in Germany in recent years. In 2023, around 61.8% of sales were paid by card, ten years earlier it was 42.6%.
There is little knowledge about the impact of EU policy on digital payments, as the EU Commission has not set up an effective monitoring system, the auditors further warned.
Commission acknowledges raised questions
Overall, the Commission acknowledges the importance of the questions raised by the auditors, according to a response. A lot of the problems mentioned in the report are already being worked on, it was further stated. The European Court of Auditors regularly reviews the work of EU institutions, particularly the EU Commission, in reports. It cannot give binding instructions to institutions, but its reports are considered in debates, for example, about legal changes. (January 9)