Brussels: EU has launched investigation into MasterCard fees and formal anti-trust proceedings against MasterCard has started on April 9, 2013 to claiming that some of the inter-bank fees charged by the company and related practices may be anti-competitive.
The EC banned MasterCard from charging cross-border inter-bank fees in the European Economic Area (the 27 European Union member states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) also in 2007.
The current investigation against MasterCard is targeting payments made by non-EEA citizens inside the bloc, such as a US tourist shopping in Europe, the EC said in a statement. The investigation would also examine MasterCard’s rules that prevent merchants from benefiting from better terms offered by other banks in the EU internal market and rules that force merchants to accept all types of MasterCard’s cards, even if some incur higher charges.
“The inter-bank fees are generally passed on to the merchants, leading to higher overall fees for them. Ultimately, such behaviour is liable to slow down cross-border business and harm EU consumers,” the Commission said.
