Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Consultation Paper –
July 2025 Next Steps

9.1 Consultation process

The RBA will conduct a public consultation process ahead of finalising any proposed regulatory changes. Following the release of this Consultation Paper, stakeholders will have six weeks to make a written submission (see sections 9.2–9.6, below, for further details). The RBA may reach out to those who make a submission to discuss it in further detail. Stakeholder views from written submissions and discussions will be considered in the RBA’s deliberation process ahead of making its final conclusions on the Review. The RBA expects to publish these conclusions and any regulatory changes stemming from these decisions in a Conclusions Paper by the end of the year.

9.2 Making a submission

The RBA is seeking views from interested stakeholders on the issues raised in this paper, including the draft standards in Appendix D. Written submissions on the issues discussed in Chapters 2–8 and draft standards should be provided by 26 August 2025 to:

pysubmissions@rba.gov.au

or

Head of Payments Policy Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
GPO Box 3947
Sydney NSW 2001

The RBA asks that, where it is practicable to do so, submissions are provided by email.

Submissions provided by email should be in a separate document, in Word or equivalent format. Submissions in PDF format must be accompanied by a version in an accessible format such as .rtf or .doc.

9.3 What will we do with your submission?

Your submission will be read by RBA staff working on, or involved with, the relevant consultation process to which your submission relates.

In the interests of informed public debate, the RBA is committed to transparency in its processes and open access to information. Accordingly, the RBA aims to publish submissions on its website where it is appropriate to do so. However, the RBA reserves the right to redact (e.g. remove defamatory material or, where appropriate, de-identify personal or sensitive information), publish or not publish submissions on its website at its own discretion. The RBA’s publication of a submission is not an indication of the RBA’s endorsement of any views or comments contained in that submission.

Most submissions that are published on the RBA website will include the name of the submitter (unless requested otherwise – see section 9.5, below). If a submission is published, the information in it, including the submitter’s name and any contact details, can be searched for on the internet. You cannot withdraw or alter your submission once the RBA has published it.

Please note that any submission provided to the RBA (including any submission considered to be confidential or containing confidential information) may be shared with the Treasury for the purposes of Treasury carrying out its functions and responsibilities in connection with matters raised in the Consultation Paper.

9.4 Requests for submissions not to be published

If you do not want some or all of your submission to be published by the RBA, you should clearly indicate this (e.g. by including the word confidential prominently on the front of your submission) and provide reasons for your request. Please note that any submission provided to the RBA (including any submission considered to be confidential or containing confidential information) may be shared with the Treasury for the purposes of Treasury’s functions and responsibilities in connection with matters raised in the Consultation Paper. Similarly, please also clearly indicate if you do not want some or all of your submission to be shared with the Treasury. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails are not sufficient for these purposes.

Where some parts of your submission are considered to be confidential, the RBA requests that you provide two versions of the submission at the same time prior to the closing date – one for consideration by the RBA and one, with confidential information removed, for publication (this latter version may also have contact details or other personal information removed – see section 9.5, below).

Please also note that any submission provided to the RBA may be the subject of a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. Any request for access to a confidential submission will be determined by the RBA in accordance with that Act, including any applicable exemptions (e.g. those relating to material obtained in confidence or involving an unreasonable disclosure of personal information).

9.5 Privacy

Unless requested otherwise, published submissions will usually include contact details and any other personal information contained in those documents. Where you provide a separate version of your submission for publication with contact details or other personal information redacted or removed, this will be taken as a request for the RBA not to publish such personal information.

For information about the RBA’s collection of personal information and approach to privacy, please refer to the Personal Information Collection Notice for Website Visitors and the RBA’s Privacy Policy, which are both available at http://www.rba.gov.au/privacy.

9.6 Intellectual property rights

In making a submission to the RBA, you grant a permanent, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to allow the RBA to use, reproduce, publish, adapt and communicate to the public your submission on the RBA’s website (except to the extent that you have specifically requested that all or part of your submission is kept confidential), including converting your submission into a different format to that submitted for the purposes of meeting relevant accessibility requirements.

To the extent that your submission contains material that is owned by a third party, you warrant that you have obtained all necessary licences and consents required for the use of those materials (including for the RBA to use, reproduce, publish, adapt or communicate to the public such material), and have made arrangements for the payment of any royalties or other fees payable in respect of the use of such material.