Fed: Debit Card Interchange Fees Final Rules
Federal Register, July 20, 2011, Page 43394-43475
Agency
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Action
Final rule
Summary
The Board is publishing a final rule, Regulation II, Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing. This rule implements the provisions of Section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, including standards for reasonable and proportional interchange transaction fees for electronic debit transactions, exemptions from the interchange transaction fee limitations, prohibitions on evasion and circumvention, prohibitions on payment card network exclusivity arrangements and routing restrictions for debit card transactions, and reporting requirements for debit card issuers and payment card networks. An interim final rule, with a request for comment, on standards for receiving a fraud-prevention adjustment to interchange transaction fees is published separately in the Federal Register.
Dates
Effective date: The final rule is effective October 1, 2011. Compliance dates: For Sec. 235.7(a) the general compliance date is April 1, 2012, except as follows: Payment card networks must comply with Sec. Sec. 235.7(a)(1) and (a)(3) on October 1, 2011. Issuers must comply with Sec. 235.7(a) on April 1, 2013, with respect to debit cards that use transaction qualification or substantiation systems and general-use prepaid cards sold on or after April 1, 2013. Issuers must comply with Sec. 235.7(a) with respect to reloadable general-use prepaid cards sold and reloaded prior to April 1, 2013 by May 1, 2013. Issuers must comply with Sec. 235.7(a) with respect to reloadable general-use prepaid cards sold prior to April 1, 2013 and reloaded after April 1, 2013 within 30 days of the reloading.
Further Information
Dena Milligan, Attorney (202/452-3900), Legal Division, David Mills, Manager and Economist (202/530-6265), Division of Reserve Bank Operations & Payment Systems, or Mark Manuszak, Senior Economist (202/721-4509), Division of Research & Statistics; for users of telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) only, contact (202/263-4869); Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C Streets, NW., Washington, DC 20551.