2 Amendments of Werner LANGEN related to 2013/0264(COD)
Amendment 199 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 63
Recital 63
(63) Different national practices concerning charging for the use of a given payment instrument (hereinafter “surcharging”) have led to extreme heterogeneity of the Union’s payments market and become a source of confusion for consumers, in particular in the e- commerce and cross-border context. Merchants located in Member States where surcharging is allowed offer products and services in Member States where it is prohibited and in this case still surcharge the consumer. Moreover, a strong rationale for revision of surcharging practices is supported by the fact that Regulation (EU) No xxx/yyyy establishes rules for multilateral interchange fees for card-based payments. As interchange fees are the main element making most card payments expensive and surcharging is in practice limited to card-based payments, the rules on interchange fees should be accompanied by a revision of surcharging rules. In order to promote cost transparency and the use of the most efficient payment instruments, Member States and payment service providers should not prevent the payee from requesting a charge from the payer for using a specific payment instrument, duly taking into account the provisions set out in Directive 2011/83/EU. However, the right of the payee to request a surcharge should only apply to those payment instruments for which interchange fees are not regulated. This should act as a steering mechanism towards the cheapest means of payments.
Amendment 373 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 55 – paragraph 4
Article 55 – paragraph 4