Agencies and consumers call for urgent implementation of payment services directive

The new European Payment Services Directive, which came into force on January 13, prohibits sellers of products and services, both with physical establishments and those operating on the Internet, to continue applying surcharges for using credit or debit cards. Agency and consumer associations have called for its urgent implementation in Spain to prevent "abuse" by suppliers.

Now it is the turn of the Member States to apply this Directive, known as P2D2, including Spain. In a letter sent to the professional associations of travel agencies CEAV and FETAVE, the Avasa Group urges to act so that this regulatory change is applied immediately in our country and emphasizes the benefits that the elimination of the surcharges will bring, both for the end customer and for the agencies.

According to Avasa, many airline airlines and certain car rental companies, among others, will be able to offer their customers the possibility to pay the surcharges;culos, among other touristís suppliers, apply “continuously and abusively” supplements for card payments.If up to now some companies were already violating the law with impunity with abusive surcharges, which were also fixed amounts (regardless of the cost of the ticket), and not applying what is established by Spanish law;a la ley españolala de repercusión exclusiva de los costes reales, a partir de ahoraían deberían dejar de cobrar cualquier tipo de recargo o coste por pagar con tarjeta de crédito sus servicios y billetes”, exige la asociación.

According to some industry sources, the Directive, which came into force on Saturday 13th, will increase competition. For Avasa, “it is high time that consumer associations and travel agencies, actúen so that it is applied immediately”.

For its part, the  Asociación Española de Expertos en la Relación con Clientes (AEERC) señala, with respect to P2D2, that “there is a period from January 2018 to September 2019 where the application of the Directive will be partial and still with quite a few incógnitas”.

The AEERC fears that, as each country may regulate differently everything concerning access to accounts during the interim period until the entry into force of the technical standards (RTS), it may have effects contrary to standardization, at least for more than 20 months.