Credit Card Fees in Europe: EU General Court Upholds European Commission Ruling Against MasterCard While Competition Commissioner Readies Charges Against Visa Europe

A European Commission competition ruling in 2007 prohibiting multilateral interchange fees by MasterCard was upheld by the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union on May 24, 2012.

For the text of the ruling, see European Court of Justice judgment T-111/08 MasterCard and Others v Commission (Competition).

The European Commission ruling had a significant effect on credit card charges at the time, as MasterCard halved its charges in 2009 to avoid penalties.

Visa Europe reduced debit card charges in 2010, but EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has said that fees on card transactions are too high and that formal charges against Visa Europe are being readied.

Crossposted at LawPundit.