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The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority has said that it will report retail merchant Silvan to the police, for violating the country’s Payments Act by charging a fee for a customer paying with Mastercard.
Denmark’s competition watchdog has escalated enforcement actions against Silvan, a popular hardware brand in the Scandinavian country, deciding to report the retailer to the police for persistent violations of the Payments Act, which is likely to result in a financial penalty.
The case focuses on Silvan’s repeated practice of charging illegal fees for card payments, specifically on transactions involving EU-issued Mastercards.
This latest announcement marks the third time Silvan has been found in breach of the law, despite receiving explicit warnings and directives to comply.
“It is important that consumers can pay safely and securely, and that they can see what the product costs,” said Michael Høg Riis, head of office at the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority.
“This means, among other things, that traders are not allowed to charge a fee to consumers who pay with the most common payment cards such as Visa, Dankort or Mastercard.”
The violations date back to 2018, when the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA) issued its first order prohibiting Silvan from imposing fees on card transactions.
A subsequent order was issued in October 2019, following continued non-compliance.
The most recent incident occurred on November 17, 2023, when a customer was charged an unlawful fee of DKK8.00 for using Mastercard for a payment.
After investigating the matter, the DCCA concluded on November 29, 2024, that the fee was a direct violation of national law derived from the EU’s Interchange Fee Regulation.
Silvan has attributed the recurring violations to technical errors in its payment systems.
The company argued that an outdated point-of-sale (POS) terminal was activated in the store where the latest incident occurred.
According to Silvan, the outdated terminal misclassified the card as non-EU issued, triggering the fee.
Silvan claims it has since implemented a series of measures to address these issues, including upgrading PoS terminals and collaborating with payment processing vendors to ensure compliance.
Additionally, the company reimbursed the affected customer and expressed regret over the incident.
However, the competition regulator deemed these efforts insufficient given the repeated nature of the infractions.
