Regulations

Under Part 3 of the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998, the Reserve Bank may designate a payment system if it considers that designating the system is in the public interest. It may then impose an access regime or establish standards to be complied with by participants in the system. This page provides links to designations, standards, access regimes, exemptions from the interchange fee provisions of the Access Regime for the ATM System and relevant media releases.

Some organisations have provided written undertakings to the Reserve Bank in relation to standards determined under section 18 of the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998. These undertakings are listed here for completeness because they affect the operation of the relevant payment systems even though they have not been directly regulated.

Payment Cards Regulation

All correspondence related to these regulations should be directed to cardsregulation@rba.gov.au

Designations
Title System Commencement Date Date of Gazettal Media Release
Designation of MasterCard system MasterCard 12 Apr 2001 12 Apr 2001 2001-09
Designation of VISA system Visa 12 Apr 2001 12 Apr 2001 2001-09
Designation of Visa debit Visa Debit 23 Feb 2004 23 Feb 2004 2004-01
Designation No.1 of 2012 EFTPOS
(Narrow definition)
12 Jun 2012 12 Jun 2012 2012-15
Designation No.2 of 2015 Debit MasterCard 15 Oct 2015 15 Oct 2015 2015-19
Designation No.3 of 2015 EFTPOS prepaid 15 Oct 2015 15 Oct 2015 2015-19
Designation No.4 of 2015 MasterCard prepaid 15 Oct 2015 15 Oct 2015 2015-19
Designation No.5 of 2015 Visa prepaid 15 Oct 2015 15 Oct 2015 2015-19
Standards
Title System Commencement Date Date of Gazettal/Registration Media Release
Standard No.1 of 2016: The Setting of Interchange Fees in the Designated Credit Card Schemes and Net Payments to Issuers (compilation) MasterCard, Visa 1 Jul 2017, amended effective 1 Jan 2022 26 May 2016
Variation:

21 Nov 2017
Variation:
3 June 2019
Variation:
18 Nov 2021
2016-15

2017-24

2019-14

2021-23
Standard No.2 of 2016: The Setting of Interchange Fees in the Designated Debit and Prepaid Card Schemes and Net Payments to Issuers (compilation) Visa Debit, EFTPOS, Debit MasterCard, EFTPOS prepaid, MasterCard prepaid, Visa prepaid 1 Jul 2017, amended effective 1 Jan 2022 26 May 2016
Variation:

21 Nov 2017
Variation:
3 June 2019
Variation:
18 Nov 2021
2016-15

2017-24

2019-14

2021-23
Standard No.3 of 2016: Scheme Rules Relating to Merchant Pricing for Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Transactions (compilation) All designated systems 1 Sep 2016, amended effective 1 Jan 2022 26 May 2016
Variation:
18 Nov 2021
2016-15

2021-23
Access Regimes
Title System Commencement Date Date of Gazettal Media Release
Access Regime MasterCard 23 Feb 2004 23 Feb 2004
Variation:

1 Jan 2015
2004-02

2014-22
Access Regime Visa 23 Feb 2004 23 Feb 2004
Variation:

1 Jan 2015
2004-02

2014-22
Undertakings
Title System Commencement Date Media Release
Undertaking No.1 of 2019: Merchant Pricing for UnionPay Card Transactions UnionPay 1 Oct 2019
Undertaking No.1 of 2016: The ‘Honour All Cards’ Rule in the Designated MasterCard Credit, Debit and Prepaid Systems MasterCard Credit, Debit and Prepaid 1 Sep 2016
Undertaking No.2 of 2016: The ‘Honour All Cards’ Rule in the Designated Visa Credit, Debit and Prepaid Systems VISA Credit, Debit and Prepaid 1 Sep 2016
Undertaking No.3 of 2016: Merchant Pricing for American Express Proprietary Card Transactions American Express 2 Sep 2016 2002-15
Undertaking No.4 of 2016: Merchant Pricing for Diners Club Card Transactions Diners Club 14 Oct 2016 2002-15
Undertaking No.1 of 2023: Mastercard Undertaking In Relation to Least-Cost Routing of Debit Transactions by Merchants Mastercard 1 Jul 2023 2023-15
Undertaking No.2 of 2023: Visa Undertaking In Relation to Least-Cost Routing of Debit Transactions by Merchants Visa 1 Jul 2023 2023-15
The original undertakings by American Express and Diners Club were provided in August 2002. The American Express undertaking was revised in 2004 following a corporate restructure. Both were revised in 2013 to reflect changes to the Surcharging Standards that became effective in March 2013, and subsequently updated to reflect the RBA's revised Surcharging Standard. The UnionPay undertaking effective 1 October 2019 is a commitment that UnionPay will not impose any ‘no-surcharge’ rules in Australia; the previous undertaking provided in May 2017 was to the effect that any such rules would not be enforced in Australia.

ATM System

Regulations
Title Commencement Date Date of Gazettal Media Release
Designation 10 Dec 2008 10 Dec 2008 2008-28
Access Regime (Compilation) 3 Mar 2009 24 Feb 2009
Variation:
29 Aug 2012
2009-03

2012-24
Exemptions
from Paragraphs 11 and/or 12 of the Access Regime for the ATM System
Exemption Number Description Commencement Date
No 1 of 2009 Arrangement between Cashcard Limited and Bank of Western Australia Limited in relation to Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 16 Jul 2009
No 1 of 2012 Arrangement among ATM industry participants in relation to ATM access for very remote Indigenous communities. 29 Aug 2012
Consent in relation to Exemption No 1 of 2012 1 Dec 2017
No 1 of 2017 Arrangement between Indue Limited, Westpac Banking Corporation and DC Payments Limited in relation to balance enquiries by holders of Cashless Debit Cards 1 Jan 2017
No 1 of 2021 Exemption allowing ATM participants to enter into multiple one-way arrangements. 19 Oct 2021
The Reserve Bank may grant an exemption to a participant in the ATM system from any or all of the requirements of paragraphs 11 and 12 of the Access Regime for the ATM System in accordance with paragraph 16 of the Access Regime.