I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8874 
To amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require the Board of Gov-
ernors of the Federal Reserve system to prescribe regulations relating 
to network competition in credit card transactions, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 
Mr. WELCH (for himself and Mr. GOODEN of Texas) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system to 
prescribe regulations relating to network competition in 
credit card transactions, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Credit Card Competi-
tion Act of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. COMPETITION IN CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 921 of the Electronic 
Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693o–2) is amended— 
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(1) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), 
and (4) as paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respec-
tively; and 
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 
following: 
‘‘(2) COMPETITION
IN
CREDIT
CARD
TRANS-
ACTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) NO EXCLUSIVE NETWORK.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 
year after the date of enactment of the 
Credit Card Competition Act of 2022, the 
Board shall prescribe regulations providing 
that a covered card issuer or payment card 
network shall not directly or through any 
agent, processor, or licensed member of a 
payment card network, by contract, re-
quirement, condition, penalty, technological 
specification, or otherwise, restrict the 
number of payment card networks on 
which an electronic credit transaction may 
be processed to— 
‘‘(I) 1 such network; 
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‘‘(II) 2 or more such networks 
which are owned, controlled, or other-
wise operated by— 
‘‘(aa) affiliated persons; or 
‘‘(bb) 
networks 
affiliated 
with such issuer; or 
‘‘(III) subject to clause (ii), the 2 
such networks that hold the 2 largest 
market shares with respect to the 
number of credit cards issued in the 
United States by licensed members of 
such networks (and enabled to be 
processed through such networks), as 
determined by the Board on the date 
on which the Board prescribes the 
regulations. 
‘‘(ii) DETERMINATIONS BY BOARD.— 
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—The Board, 
not later than 3 years after the date 
on which the regulations prescribed 
under clause (i) take effect, and not 
less frequently than once every 3 
years 
thereafter, 
shall 
determine 
whether the 2 networks identified 
under clause (i)(III) have changed, as 
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compared with the most recent such 
determination by the Board. 
‘‘(II) EFFECT
OF
DETERMINA-
TION.—If the Board, under subclause 
(I), determines that the 2 networks 
described in clause (i)(III) have 
changed (as compared with the most 
recent such determination by the 
Board), clause (i)(III) shall no longer 
have any force or effect. 
‘‘(B) NO
ROUTING
RESTRICTIONS.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
the Credit Card Competition Act of 2022, the 
Board shall prescribe regulations providing that 
a covered card issuer or payment card network 
shall not— 
‘‘(i) directly or through any agent, 
processor, or licensed member of the net-
work, by contract, requirement, condition, 
penalty, or otherwise— 
‘‘(I) inhibit the ability of any per-
son who accepts credit cards for pay-
ments to direct the routing of elec-
tronic credit transactions for proc-
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essing over any payment card network 
that— 
‘‘(aa) 
may 
process 
such 
transactions; and 
‘‘(bb) is not on the list es-
tablished by the Board under 
subparagraph (D); 
‘‘(II) require any person who ac-
cepts credit cards for payments to ex-
clusively use, for transactions associ-
ated with a particular credit card, an 
authentication, tokenization, or other 
security technology that cannot be 
used by all of the payment card net-
works that may process electronic 
credit transactions for that particular 
credit card; or 
‘‘(III) inhibit the ability of an-
other payment card network to handle 
or process electronic credit trans-
actions 
using 
an 
authentication, 
tokenization, or other security tech-
nology for the processing of those 
electronic credit transactions; or 
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‘‘(ii) impose any penalty or disadvan-
tage, financial or otherwise, on any person 
for— 
‘‘(I) choosing to direct the rout-
ing of an electronic credit transaction 
over any payment card network on 
which the electronic credit transaction 
may be processed; or 
‘‘(II) failing to ensure that a cer-
tain number, or aggregate dollar 
amount, of electronic credit trans-
actions are handled by a particular 
payment card network. 
‘‘(C) 
APPLICABILITY.—The 
regulations 
prescribed under subparagraphs (A) and (B) 
shall not apply to a credit card issued in a 3- 
party payment system model. 
‘‘(D) DESIGNATION
OF
NATIONAL
SECU-
RITY RISKS.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of the Credit Card Competi-
tion Act of 2022, the Board, in consultation 
with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall pre-
scribe regulations to establish a public list of 
any payment card network— 
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‘‘(i) the processing of electronic credit 
transactions by which is determined by the 
Board to pose a risk to the national secu-
rity of the United States; or 
‘‘(ii) that is owned, operated, or spon-
sored by a foreign state entity. 
‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 
‘‘(i) the terms ‘card issuer’ and ‘cred-
itor’ have the meanings given the terms in 
section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act 
(15 U.S.C. 1602); 
‘‘(ii) the term ‘covered card issuer’ 
means a card issuer that, together with the 
affiliates of the card issuer, has assets of 
more than $100,000,000,000; 
‘‘(iii) the term ‘credit card issued in a 
3-party payment system model’ means a 
credit card issued by a card issuer that 
is— 
‘‘(I) the payment card network 
with respect to the credit card; or 
‘‘(II) under common ownership 
with the payment card network with 
respect to the credit card; 
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‘‘(iv) the term ‘electronic credit trans-
action’— 
‘‘(I) means a transaction in 
which a person uses a credit card; and 
‘‘(II) includes a transaction in 
which a person does not physically 
present a credit card for payment, in-
cluding a transaction involving the 
entry of credit card information onto, 
or use of credit card information in 
conjunction with, a website interface 
or a mobile telephone application; and 
‘‘(v) the term ‘licensed member’ in-
cludes, with respect to a payment card net-
work— 
‘‘(I) a creditor or card issuer that 
is authorized to issue credit cards 
bearing any logo of the payment card 
network; and 
‘‘(II) any person, including any 
financial institution and any person 
that may be referred to as an 
‘acquirer’, that is authorized to— 
‘‘(aa) screen and accept any 
person into any program under 
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which that person may accept, 
for payment for goods or serv-
ices, a credit card bearing any 
logo of the payment card net-
work; 
‘‘(bb) process transactions 
on behalf of any person who ac-
cepts credit cards for payments; 
and 
‘‘(cc) complete financial set-
tlement of any transaction on be-
half of a person who accepts 
credit cards for payments.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (d)(1), by inserting ‘‘, except 
that the Bureau shall not have authority to enforce 
the requirements of this section or any regulations 
prescribed by the Board under this section’’ after 
‘‘section 918’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The regulations prescribed 
by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
under paragraph (2) of section 921(b) of the Electronic 
Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693o–2(b)), as amended 
by subsection (a) of this section, shall take effect on the 
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