EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/512

(2004/C 78 E/0533)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3291/03

by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission

(3 November 2003)

Subject: Enforcement of Community decisions in Portugal

Commission Decision 2002/914/EC of 24 July 2002 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case No COMP/29 373 — Visa International — Multilateral Interchange Fee) was published in the Official Journal (1).

The Decision sets out maximum values which may be charged by VISA for the use of debit and credit cards in the Eurozone.

Naturally the rates applied to transactions made within each country must be lower than those applied to the Eurozone, given the lower cost of telephone calls.

1. Will the Commission specify what body is responsible for the implementation of this Decision in Portugal?

2. Given that there is only one company, owned by the Portuguese banks — Unicre — through which virtually all debit and credit card transactions made in Portugal are processed, what body is responsible for enforcing Community decisions in this field?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(5 December 2003)

By Decision 2002/914/EC of 24 July 2002, the Commission has exempted, under the Union competition rules, certain multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for cross-border payments with Visa cards. The exemption will expire in 2007.

In order to answer the questions of the Honourable Member, the Commission would first clarify some aspects of Decision 2002/914/EC. The MIF is an inter-bank payment made for each transaction carried out with a payment card. In the Visa system, it is paid to the cardholder's bank by the retailer's bank and constitutes a cost for the latter which is normally passed on to retailers as part of the fee they pay to the bank for each Visa card payment. The default level of the Visa MIF for cross-border transactions within the European Region, which applies unless two banks agree otherwise, is set by the Visa EU Board and was notified to the Commission for clearance. The exemption under Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty was granted by the Commission after Visa submitted a package of reforms, and it was the object of extensive discussions and consultation with interested parties. More particularly, Visa committed itself, firstly, to reducing the level of its MIFs for the different types of consumer cards: for Visa's deferred debit card and credit card payments, the weighted average MIF rate will be brought down in stages, to a level of 0,7 % in 2007; for debit card transactions, Visa will immediately introduce a flat-rate MIF of EUR 0,28. Secondly, the MIF is capped at the level of costs for certain specific services provided by issuing banks, which in the Commission's view correspond to services provided by cardholders' banks which benefit those retailers who ultimately pay the cross-border MIF. Thirdly, Visa has allowed member banks to reveal information about the MIF levels and the relative percentage of the three cost categories to retailers at their request.

1. Monitoring the respect by Visa of the modified MIF scheme for cross-border transactions in all Member States (therefore also in Portugal) is under the responsibility of the Commission. Should any infringement of the terms of the exemption decision come to the attention of the Commission, the services of Directorate General Competition will investigate any possible deviation from the decision. It is important to emphasise that the exemption decision of the Commission only applies to cross-border payment transactions with Visa consumer cards at retailer outlets within the European Economic Area. The decision does not apply to MIFs for domestic Visa payments within Member States. As a matter of fact, the assessment of the exemptability of the reformed Visa MIF was carried out by the Commission in the context of cross-border payments within the Visa payment scheme only. The assessment of Visa MIFs for domestic payments in Portugal would have to be made in the light of the different market conditions in the Member State.

2. Community competition law applies where trade between Member States may be appreciably affected. Therefore, if there were to be any indication of possible violation of Community competition law in the Portuguese cards market, such information could be forwarded to the National Competition Authority or the Commission. A copy of the concerns raised by the Honourable Member has been sent to the Portuguese competition authority (Autoridade da Concorrência).

(1) OJ L 318, 22.11.2002, p. 17.