European Parliament set to introduce caps on credit card charges

The European Parliament is working on legislation to introduce caps on the amount that shoppers can be charged on credit and debit cards.

Sinn Féin MEP for the Midlands and North West Matt Carthy, said that the proposals would be especially beneficial to people who shop in border areas of the country.

The level of charges vary between the North and the Republic currently.

MEP Carthy says he expects that once the new regulations are brought in, banks will be prevented from charging consumers more than 0.3% for using their cards.

"So in some cases, member states have no caps whatsoever, and in other cases caps are determined wither by national legislation or by regulatory bodies," he said.

"So for example the Financial Regulator would set caps in countries like Ireland. What this would ensure is that member states will have to ensure that there is a cap of 0.2% and 0.3% respectively, in terms of debit and credit cards, but member states will still have the wherewithal, if they wish, to introduce lower caps."

He added: "From an Irish point of view, I think this will be most significant in terms of cross-border trade.

"It will ensure that retailers who are operating along the border region and also those retailers who might have business customers from outside of their respective member states will have certainty in terms of how much they are charged."