MasterCard Will Have to Stop Charging Cross Border Fees After All

The top court in the European Union supported the European Commission’s decision from 2007 to ban MasterCard from charging cross border fees with the motive that such fees harmed competition. This ruling come after MasterCard appealed the judgement by General Court in Luxembourg (that is EU’s second-highest court) back in 2012 which too supported the Commission’s decision. The current judgement cannot be appealed because it is binding.

Naturally, MasterCard are unhappy about it and are expressing their disappointment, but on the other hand they have been complying with the Commission’s decision for years now while the court case was still pending and they will just have to continue doing so in the foreseeable future.

Personally, I am pleased. This is a big win for the European consumers who had to pay unfairly high (and more importantly hidden) fees and it is also big win for MasterCard’s smallest competitors, who had to deal with unfair competition.