On 12 June 2012 the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced that the Payment Systems Board decided to vary the Standards relating to merchant surcharging on credit and scheme debit cards. The removal of no‑surcharge rules has allowed merchants to pass on the cost of credit and scheme debit card transactions to their customers via a surcharge should they choose to do so. The variation allows card scheme rules to limit surcharges to the reasonable cost of card acceptance. The variation continues to ensure that merchants can fully recover their card acceptance costs. The varied Standards will come into force on 1 January 2013. The Bank has noted that some parties in consultation expressed a desire for more clarification as to the meaning of ‘the reasonable cost of acceptance’ in the varied Standards. The Bank is therefore giving consideration to publishing a Guidance Note. A draft Guidance Note is attached to the RIS and comments may be directed to the RBA by 20 July 2012. It makes clear that at a minimum the reasonable cost of acceptance includes the merchant service fee, but it may also include a range of other costs. A Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Reserve Bank and was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
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