Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Finance when he will enact the payment service directive into law; if it is intended to include provisions covering direct debit charges and penalties for consumers not using such a payment mechanism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47485/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Payment Services Directive (Directive 2007/64/EC) was transposed into Irish law through the European Communities (Payment Services) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 383 of 2009), made on 25 September 2009. The Directive does not regulate charges for the use of direct debit or other payment instruments. Article 52(3) of the Directive prohibits payment service providers from preventing merchants applying a charge or offering a reduction for the use of a given payment instrument, in order to ensure that the costs of efficient and inefficient payment instruments are transparent.

Article 52(3) also included an option for Member States to forbid or limit the right to request such charges for the use of a particular payment instrument taking into account the need to encourage competition and promote the use of efficient payment instruments. However, a substantive case, consistent with the objectives of the Directive, was not made to me by stakeholders during the transposition of the Directive and the option was not therefore exercised. The Directive does not allow Member States to impose penalties for the use of a particular payment instrument.

In addition to charges to consumers, as I set out in answer to Question No. 59 of 7 December 2010, fees may also be imposed on merchants by banks for the use of debit or credit cards. These fees are a commercial matter between the given card scheme, the acquiring bank and their customers.