The Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee is calling for submissions on the Retail Payment System Bill.

Retail payments between consumers (including businesses) and merchants are central to the economy. This bill seeks to introduce a regulatory regime to ensure that retail payment systems, such as the Mastercard and Visa credit and debit networks, deliver long-term benefits to consumers and merchants. The regulatory regime would be administered by the Commerce Commission.

The bill would promote competition and economic efficiency in the retail payment system by allowing the Commerce Commission to:

• recommend to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs which retail payment networks and network participants should be regulated
• issue standards that designated networks and network participants must comply with, such as information disclosure, pricing, or access to infrastructure and the network
• make directions around the rules of designated networks, such as directing an operator to set, amend, or comply with network rules, or obtain the Commission’s approval before changing its rules
• regulate merchants’ payment surcharges by issuing standards which may also impose limits on payment surcharges, or set out how merchants must represent surcharges
• utilise similar enforcement and functional powers as those set out in the Commerce Act 1986, including monitoring and investigation powers.

Tell the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee what you think:

Make a submission on the bill by 11.59pm on 25 November 2021.

For more details about the bill:

• Read the full content of the bill
• Get more details about the bill
• What’s been said in Parliament about the bill?
• Follow the committee’s Facebook page for updates

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