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ARTICLE · 04 AUGUST 2017

Payment Surcharges Banned Under New German Law Implementing PSD2

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Retailers will be banned from applying surcharges to many credit and debit card payments made by consumers under new laws finalised in Germany.

GermanyFinance and Banking
Dr. Alexander Bayer, LL.M.
Dr. Alexander Bayer, LL.M.
Dr. Igor Barabash
Dr. Igor Barabash

Retailers will be banned from applying surcharges to many credit and debit card payments made by consumers under new laws finalised in Germany.

The new legislation implements the EU's revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and will come into force on 13 January 2018. 

Under existing rules, online retailers are able to recover the costs they incur when accepting certain payments from buyers provided that they provide alternative common and reasonable means of payments to those customers for free. 

However, under the new rules, set out in a new section of the German Civil Code, online businesses will no longer be able to apply cost-covering surcharges when accepting many common types of payment. 

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