Regulating the card-based transaction market (Regulation)

Statutory upper limits may obstruct market entry to new card schemes. They are only justifiable where there is unassailable market dominance and any action should be left up to the competition authorities rather than the legislator. The same applies to bans on the "honour all cards" rule and the requirement that processors be completely independent of the card schemes. A mandatory organisational separation between the card scheme and processors breaches the card schemes' freedom to conduct a business.