Payments are the cornerstone of e-commerce and a driving force of the European digital economy. They enable businesses and consumers to sell and buy goods and services online in a seamless and secure way. E-commerce businesses are low-margin, navigating a difficult economic climate and facing increasing global competition. How consumers choose to pay, along with the associated costs, significantly impacts the overall profitability and resilience of the sector. In this context, the persistent rise in the cost of payments, a phenomenon observed by our members across Europe and over the years, has become a pressing concern for merchants and consumers.
This issue deserves urgent consideration and appropriate measures to ensure that merchant’s concerns are adequately addressed. In this context, Ecommerce Europe welcomes recent legislative developments, such as the revision of the Payment Services Directive (PSD3) and introduction of the Payment Services Regulation (PSR), which will be instrumental in shaping the payments landscape across the Single Market. The entry into application of the Instant Payment Regulation (IPR) is also expected to positively impact the share of alternative payment methods in the European payments mix. Furthermore, Ecommerce Europe welcomes the creation and roll out of the digital euro. Under the right conditions, a digital euro would represent a competitive and innovative payment method cross Europe.
However, despite these developments, further work is needed on other aspects of the European legislative framework to foster a competitive and dynamic payment ecosystem that works for all. Remaining concerns underlined in Ecommerce Europe’s latest position paper include the limited impact the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) had on the competitiveness of the EU payments market, as well as the dominant practices imposed by international card schemes (ICSs) on merchants.
In this context, Ecommerce Europe published a comprehensive position paper, available here, which recommends:
- Reopening the IFR to address the regulation of scheme fees.
- Expanding the IFR’s scope to cover corporate cards, meal vouchers, electronic social and professional vouchers, and inter-regional payments.
- Increasing and harmonising supervision of all actors at European level.
- Imposing transparency obligations on fees charged to merchants.
- Take urgent action at both EU and national level against dominant practices imposed by international card schemes on merchants.
If you want to know more about this topic, you can reach out to: annalachambre@ecommerce-europe.eu