EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 31 May 2005 
at the request of the Danish Competition Authority  
on a proposal for a law amending the Act on certain means of payment  
(CON/2005/15) 
 1. On 21 March 2005 the European Central Ba nk (ECB) received a request from the 
Konkurrencestyrelsen  (the Danish Competition Authority) for an opinion on a proposal for a law 
amending the Lov om visse betalingsmidler  (Act on certain means of payment) (hereinafter the 
‘draft law’). 
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is b ased on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing 
the European Community and the second and fifth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultatio n of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft law contains provisions concerning 
means of payment and payment and settlement syst ems. In accordance with  the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Eu ropean Central Bank, the Governing Council has 
adopted this opinion. 
3. The draft law focuses on two main issues. First,  credit institutions established in Denmark, which 
jointly own and operate Dankort (the Danish de bit card system), will no longer be allowed to 
charge consumers a fee of DKK 0.50 per physical  transaction when consumers use a Dankort with 
a chip. Instead, according to the draft law, credit institutions w ill only be allowed to charge 
merchants an annual subscription fee for the co sts of operating the Dankort system. Moreover, 
according to the draft law, the Minister of Ec onomic and Business Affairs (hereinafter the 
‘Minister’) may lay down detailed rules for how the annual Dankort subscription shall be 
calculated. Second, the draft law prohibits merc hants from passing on Dankort costs to consumers 
both in respect of physical and non-physical (i.e ., Internet) transactions. In addition, in accordance 
with powers given in Article 1.7 of the current Act on certain means of payment, the Minister may exempt internationally issued (i.e., non-Danish) means of payment from the provisions of the draft law. From the comments which accompanied the draft law, the ECB understands that it is intended that the Minister will exercise his existing right to  issue secondary legislation to exempt payment 
instruments provided by service providers establis hed outside Denmark from the provisions of the 
                                                     
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2 draft law, so that such service providers coul d still charge fees from the redeeming banks in 
connection with each transaction, and merchants w ould be free to charge the consumers for using 
such cards. 
4. While recognising that Denmark has not adopted the single currency, the ECB would like to draw 
attention to the European banking industry’s proj ect for a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), the 
aim of which is to abolish barriers to payments w ithin the euro area. More specifically, the purpose 
of the SEPA project is to create a single domestic payments market in which citizens and economic actors will be able to make payments as easily and inexpensively as in their place of residence. The 
establishment of a Single Payment Market is also an objective of the Eu ropean Commission, which 
aims to bring European cross-border and national pa yments to the same level of efficiency as the 
best national system. Notwithstanding the right of national legislators to adopt legislation on 
consumer protection measures, the creation of na tional rules might have the potential to fragment 
the market, create obstacles and impose costs on provi ders and users who wish to operate and carry 
out transactions in the wider EU market. Another potential distortion may arise in the provision of acquiring services or issuing cards in Denmark, given that the existence of a business model which is fixed by law and which prohibits the imposition of charges on consumers will not facilitate other 
European business models entering the market.  
5. The ECB is of the opinion that legally binding measu res to restrict free pricing have to be carefully 
considered and an assessment made as to whether th ey are compatible with the principle of an open 
market economy with free competition, as laid down by Article 4(1) of the Treaty and the other 
objectives recognised by the Treaty, and consiste nt with the principle of proportionality. 
6. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 31 May 2005. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET