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UK: Government to ban 'rip-off' card surcharges following Which? campaign
06 Jan 2012
The UK government has confirmed it will implement a ban
against excessive card surcharges following a surcharge 'super
complaint' by CI member Which?.
Which? submitted a super complaint to the Office of Fair Trading
(OFT) in March 2011, asking the regulator to investigate excessive
credit and debit card surcharges.
Over
50,000 consumers supported the campaign, either by signing the
Which? pledge or emailing UK ministers to implement a
ban on excessive card surcharges.
The OFT upheld the Which? super complaint. Meanwhile
the European Parliament agreed to cap card surcharges across Europe
via an amendment in the Consumer Rights Directive, which is due to
come into effect across Europe in June 2014.
Which?, however, lobbyied the UK Treasury to implement the
ban earlier and as a result the Treasury announced on December 23
that it would implement the ban on excessive surcharges by bringing
the Directive into effect in the UK by the end of 2012.
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, welcomed the plans as
a victory for consumers saying: 'This announcement goes further
than the Office of Fair Trading's proposals, finally putting an end
to these unfair and excessive charges.'
Read more on this on the Which? website.
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