Swiss Federal court rejects Visa’s demand for fee adaption
The Federal Administrative Court in St Gallen rejected a precautionary measure requested by the credit card provider Visa on Wednesday. The credit card provider had demanded that an adjustment in interchange fees introduced on July 1, 2023 should also be applied during the course of the investigation into the company being undertaken by the competition commission (COMCO).
At the end of June last year, the COMCO opened an investigation into Visa due to an adjustment in interchange fees for debit card transactions in Switzerland. The fee did not go to Visa, but to the bank that issues the card.
Visa then sought clarification from COMCO, which considered the increase desired by the company to be inappropriate. In particular, the company asked the supervisory authority for permission to maintain the fee increase until the investigation was concluded, a request that was promptly rejected by COMCO, which argued that such a measure would be contrary to the anti-cartel law.
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The credit card provider therefore appealed against this decision to the Federal Administrative Court. According to the court, Visa’s sole purpose in approaching the COMCO was however to avoid incurring sanctions during the investigation. Reaching for possible sanctions in the interest of one’s own company, however, is an infringement of the anti-cartel law. This rule states that companies are required to bear the risk of incurring sanctions. The Federal Administrative Court also found that the preliminary assessment of the COMCO Secretariat provided sufficient legal certainty.
This article has been adapted on March 6 and 7 following a correction by Keystone-SDA.
Adapted from Italian by DeepL/mg/amva/rg
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