§8.1 Introduction

Article 19 applies to the use of ‘means of payment’. Since these terms are not defined in any way, Article 19 should apply to any means of payment, including cash. It should be noted that ‘payment services’ as such fall in the category of ‘financial services’ that are excluded from the scope of the scope of the CRD in accordance with its Article 3(3)(d). As a result, payment service providers are not subject to the requirements of the Directive. The obligation under Article 19 is not addressed to payment services providers but to other traders that enter into contracts with consumers that are covered by the CRD. The provision prohibits those traders from charging consumers, in respect of the use of a given means of payment, fees that exceed the cost normally borne for the use of such means. The scope of application of Article 19 has been significantly reduced by the revised Payment Services Directive (‘PSD2’) applicable from 13 January 2018. Article 62(4) of the PSD2 specifically forbids surcharging for: — payment instruments for which the interchange fees (146) are regulated under the Regulation (EU) 2015/751 of the European Parliament and of the Council (147) on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions (IFR); this ban concerns payments with consumer debit and credit cards used in more than 95 % of transactions in the EU card market; — payment services to which the SEPA Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (148) applies, i.e. credit transfers and direct debits in euro; As a result, Article 19 of the CRD remains relevant only for the ‘non-capped’ cards, i.e. commercial cards like company cards and cards issued by so-called three party schemes whereby the cards are issued by the scheme itself, which would qualify at the same time as bank, and to payments in cash. However, it should be noted that Article 62(5) of the PSD2 gives Member States the option to forbid or limit surcharging for the specific payment instruments which are not covered by the IFR, such as the above-mentioned commercial cards and cards issued by three party schemes.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07