Costs of payment card acceptance getting reduced

The National Assembly of Serbia has adopted the Law on Multilateral Interchange Fees and Special Operating Rules for Card-based Payment Transactions.

The aim is to reduce the costs of payment card acceptance and increase the number of points of sale where it’s possible to pay for goods and services by a payment card.

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) expects the positive effects of the law to be felt by end users.

NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said in her presentation of the law that it was very important, especially for small traders, which pay a high price for card-based transactions, and added that the goal was to encourage the usage of payment cards, thereby reducing the grey economy. She said at the time that the citizens of Serbia still paid higher prices for interbank operations than in the EU, where the fees are limited to 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards.

During the discussion, members of the parliament primarily asked for clarification of the article which obliges the bank to issue Dina payment card to clients along with the current account, whose transactions are processed in Serbia without a fee. Last year, 57% of the payment transactions in Serbia were realized with payment cards.

The National Assembly of Serbia has also adopted the amendments to the Law on Payment Services, which should provide a stable, safe and efficient functioning of the payment system, an acceleration of economic activities and the reduction of transfer costs.

The amendments define the rules which will further improve the availability of information and transparency concerning the fees that citizens and the economy are charged by providers of payment services. All providers of payment services will oblige to use the standardized terminology defined by the NBS in offering and contracting payment services related to payment accounts and to provide information on fees in the pre-contract stage through a standardized form, which will enable an easier comparison between the fees.

Providers of payment services will also oblige to send a report on all fees charged for services related to the payment account to their clients at least once a year, without a compensation. Another new feature is that, in case of theft and misuse of a payment card, the user is responsible only up to the amount of RSD 3,000, whereas the bank takes all responsibility for amounts above it and obliges to compensate for the loss.

Narodna banka Srbije Beograd

Narodna skupština Republike Srbije

NBS

Law on Multilateral Interchange Fees and Special Operating Rules for Card based Payment Transactions

payment cards

credit cards

debit cards

card based payment

Jorgovanka Tabakovic

interbank operations

amendments to the Law on Payment Services

theft of plastic cards

theft of cards

Law on Payment Services