Final report of the Hearing Officer in case COMP/29.373 - Visa International/Multilateral Interchange FEE

(pursuant to Article 15 of Commission Decision 2001/462/EC, ECSC of 23 May 2001 on the terms of reference of Hearing Officers in certain competition proceedings (OJ L 162, 19.6.2001, p. 21))

(2002/C 286/03)

(Text with EEA relevance)

The draft decision gives rise to the following observations.

This case can be traced back originally to 31 January 1977 when Ibanco Ltd, subsequently renamed Visa International Service Association (Visa), notified various rules and regulations governing the Visa association and its members to the Commission, seeking negative clearance under Article 81(1) or, alternatively an exemption under Article 81(3). A comfort letter was sent in April 1985 and the case was closed.

The investigation was reopened in 1992 following a complaint. The comfort letter was withdrawn. A complaint was registered by Eurocommerce on 23 May 1997 against various aspects of inter alia the Visa International payment card scheme, in particular interchange fees. On 9 August 2001, the Commission adopted a decision clearing certain provisions of the various Visa rules under Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty and Article 53(1) of the EEA Agreement(1). That decision did not deal with the interchange fee issue. This issue, known as the multilateral interchange fee (MIF) is the subject of the present decision.

Visa received a statement of objections concerning its intra-regional MIFs scheme on 11 October 2000. Visa replied on 11 December 2000. An oral hearing took place on 6 February 2001. Eurocommerce participated in this hearing, as did other interested third parties. In March 2001, Visa, Eurocommerce and other interested third parties presented supplementary observations to the Commission.

In June 2001, Visa adopted a proposal to modify its MIF scheme. This was to the Commission. On 11 August 2001, the Commission published a notice in the Official Journal describing the proposed scheme, as modified, indicating the Commission's provisional intention to adopt a favourable position and inviting interested parties to comment.

On 7 September 2001, the Commission sent a letter pursuant to Article 6 of Comission Regulation (EC) No 2842/98, rejecting on a preliminary basis the complaint brought by Eurocommerce. Following extensions to the time limit granted by the Hearing Officer, Eurocommerce replied to this letter on 29 October 2001, having been granted access to certain additional documentation in order to respond. A request for an oral hearing was not granted but on 5 December 2001 Eurocommerce had a meeting with DG Competition, in the presence of the Hearing Officer in order to present its views orally.

Following observations made by Eurocommerce in its reply and comments received from third parties to the notice published in the Official Journal, the Commission reopened discussions with Visa on certain aspects of the proposed MIF scheme, as a result of which, on 5 February 2002, Visa submitted certain additional modifications and clarifications to the proposed scheme. Eurocommerce was given a further opportunity to comment.

In the light of the above, I conclude that Visa's rights to be heard, as addressee of the present decision, those of Eurocommerce and other interested third parties have been fully respected.

Done at Brussels on 25 June 2002.

Karen Williams

(1) OJ L 293, 10.11.2001, p. 24.