Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Consultation Paper –
July 2025 Appendix B: International Comparison of Card Surcharging and Interchange Frameworks

Consultation Paper
July 2025

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Jurisdiction	Consumer debit^(a)		Consumer credit^(a)		Commercial cards		Foreign-issued cards^(a)
	Surcharging allowed?	Interchange cap (%)^(b)	Surcharging allowed?	Interchange cap (%)^(b)	Surcharging allowed?	Interchange cap	Interchange cap (%)^(b)
Australia	Yes, up to cost of acceptance	Weighted-average benchmark: 8 cents^(b) Cap: 10 cents or 0.2^(b)	Yes, up to cost of acceptance	Weighted-average benchmark: 0.5^(b) Cap: 0.8^(b)	Same as consumer cards		Not regulated
Canada	Scheme ban	No cap^(c)	Yes, up to cost of acceptance, to a maximum of 2.4% set by Visa and Mastercard	Max average: 1.4^(d)	Yes	Not regulated	Not regulated
European Economic Area	Regulatory ban	Cap: 0.2^(b)	Regulatory ban	Cap: 0.3	Yes	Not regulated	Debit CP: 0.2^(d) Credit CP: 0.3^(d) Debit CNP: 1.15^(d) Credit CNP: 1.5^(d)
New Zealand	No for eftpos Yes, up to cost of acceptance for Visa/Mastercard	Eftpos: 0 Visa/ Mastercard CP: 0.2 Visa/ Mastercard CNP: 0.6	Yes, up to cost of acceptance	0.8	Yes	Not regulated	Not regulated
United Kingdom	Regulatory ban	Cap: 0.2^(b)	Regulatory ban	0.3	Yes	Not regulated	Not regulated, consulting on CNP caps
United States	Scheme ban	$0.22 + 0.05%, exemptions apply for smaller issuers	Allowed in some states up to cost of acceptance, to a maximum of 3% (Visa) or 4% (Mastercard). Some states have lower caps	No cap	Same as consumer cards		Not regulated
(a) CP and CNP refer to card-present and card-not-present transactions respectively. (b) Caps apply to individual transactions; on a weighted-average basis, interchange fees cannot exceed the benchmark. (c) Domestic in-person transactions are automatically routed to Interac, the domestic debit card scheme. (d) Mastercard and Visa have voluntarily committed to these interchange caps. Sources: Regulators’ and schemes’ websites.