Updated Code Of Conduct For The Credit And Debit Card Industry

The long-awaited update to the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry (updated Code) was released earlier today by the Canadian federal government. Together with the updated Code, the government also released a consultation paper titled Balancing Oversight and Innovation in the Ways We Pay: A Consultation Paper, which seeks views on the oversight of national payment systems.

The stated purpose of the updated Code is identical to the original code and summarized as follows: (i) ensuring that merchants are fully aware of the costs associated with accepting credit and debit card payments thereby allowing merchants to reasonably forecast their monthly costs related to accepting such payments; (ii) providing merchants with increased pricing flexibility to encourage consumers to choose the lowest-cost payment option; and (iii) allowing merchants to freely choose which payment options they will accept.