Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Directive 2015/2366/EU on Payment Services (PSD2) was transposed into Irish law by the European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No.6 of 2018). The practice of payment service providers charging consumers a surcharge for making payments with credit or debit cards is prohibited under Regulation 86(6) of S.I. No.6 of 2018. Regulation 86(6) states that a payee shall not request charges for the use of a payment instrument for which interchange fees are regulated under the Interchange Fee Regulation, which includes consumer credit and debit cards.

As a result, surcharges charged by service providers on a customer because they are paying via consumer credit or debit card are prohibited in Ireland. It should be noted that the prohibition on surcharging does not cover transactions with commercial cards. Where surcharges are allowed, PSD2 provides that they must be appropriate and in line with the payment service provider’s actual costs.

The issue raised by the Deputy has been brought to the attention of the Central Bank of Ireland and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which is the competent authority in the State regarding Regulation 86(6) for instances when the payee is a trader that is not a regulated financial service provider and the payer is a consumer. S.I. No.6 of 2018 requires the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which comes under the aegis of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and employment, to monitor compliance with Regulation 86(6) and take all necessary measures to ensure compliance.

The Central Bank of Ireland have also highlighted that Regulation 86(7) of S.I. No.6 of 2018 provides that any provision of a contract which requires a payer to pay a charge for the use of consumer credit and debit cards is unenforceable.