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The European Commission has been urged to investigate Italy’s compliance with EU payment regulations following concerns that fees are being charged on electronic transactions via the government-run pagoPA payment system.
Italian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Pasquale Tridico and Dario Tamburrano have raised concerns over whether the country is breaching the terms of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which prohibits payees from imposing fees on payment methods covered by the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR).
The legislators highlight that pagoPA applies varying charges for debit and credit card transactions depending on the payment service provider, and argue that this places an undue financial burden on citizens using digital payments to fulfil administrative obligations.
They have asked the European Commission whether it is aware of the fees being charged for electronic card payments on pagoPA and whether these charges comply with EU payment laws.
They also urge it to verify whether Italy is adhering to EU regulations on payment services, particularly regarding the prohibition of fees for certain electronic transactions.
Finally, they ask the commission what actions it plans to take to ensure that public administrations do not impose additional costs on electronic payments, in line with PSD2’s objective of promoting secure and cost-effective digital transactions.
What happens next?
In situations where a member state, in this instance Italy, is suspected of non-compliance with EU directives such as PSD2, the European Commission has established procedures to address potential infringements.
For example, it could choose to initiate an infringement procedure against the member state in question.
This process typically begins with a formal notice to the member state, outlining the alleged breach and requesting a response.
If the issue remains unresolved, the commission has the ability to escalate the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has the authority to impose penalties or require corrective actions.
The commission has initiated infringement procedures against member states concerning PSD2 before.
In 2018, for example, it launched a total of 16 infringement procedures against several member states for failing to fully transpose PSD2 into national law on time.
When it comes to the IFR, the commission has tended to enforce compliance via antitrust investigations.
In 2019, it imposed a fine of €570m on Mastercard for obstructing merchants' access to cross-border card payment services, which it deemed a violation of EU antitrust rules.
In the case of Italy's pagoPA platform, if the commission determines that the fees charged for electronic payments violate PSD2 or the IFR, it could initiate a similar infringement procedure.
This would involve a thorough assessment of Italy's implementation of the directives, followed by potential legal action to enforce compliance.
