Germany's Federal Cartel Office announced on Wednesday that certain merchant rules enforced by the payment firm may violate competition law. The watchdog, known as the Bundeskartellamt, is specifically scrutinizing terms that ban online retailers from charging extra fees to shoppers using the service. Officials determined in a preliminary assessment that this surcharge restriction could hinder fair competition across rival payment providers. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the regulator's findings.
Key points
Regulators preliminarily assessed that prohibiting merchant surcharges damages competitio…: Regulators preliminarily assessed that prohibiting merchant surcharges damages competition among rival payment providers.
Online merchants are currently restricted by the platform from passing payment service fe…: Online merchants are currently restricted by the platform from passing payment service fees onto their customers.
The Bundeskartellamt is actively examining whether these digital commerce rules breach do…: The Bundeskartellamt is actively examining whether these digital commerce rules breach domestic antitrust regulations.
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FRANKFURT, Nov 11 : Germany's antitrust authority, the Federal Cartel Office, said on Wednesday that PayPal's prohibition against online merchants charging customers extra fees to use the payment method may restrict competition and violate the law.
• PayPal didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
• "According to the Bundeskartellamt’s preliminary assessment, this prohibition could restrict competition between various payment services and violate competition law," the cartel office said, referring to itself by its German name.
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