1Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 - Access Regime for the Bankcard credit card system

Access Regime

Objective

The objective of this Access Regime is to promote efficiency and competition in the Australian payments system, having regard to:

(i) the interests of current participants;

(ii) the interests of people who, in the future, may want access to the system;

(iii) the public interest; and

(iv) the financial stability of the designated credit card system.

Application

1. This Access Regime is imposed under Section 12 of the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998.
2. This Access Regime applies to the credit card system operated within Australia known as the Bankcard Scheme designated on 12 April 2001 by the Reserve Bank of Australia under Section 11 of the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998, and referred to as follows as “the Scheme”.
3. In this Access Regime:

an “acquirer” is a participant in the Scheme in Australia that provides services to a merchant to allow the merchant to accept a credit card;

an acquirer is a “self acquirer” if it acquires transactions for which it or a related body corporate (as that term is defined in the Corporations Act 2001) is the merchant;

“authorised deposit-taking institution” has the same meaning given to that term in Section 5(1) of the Banking Act 1959;

“credit card” means a card issued under the rules of the Scheme that can be used for purchasing goods or services on credit, or any other article issued under the rules of the Scheme and commonly known as a credit card;

an “issuer” is a participant in the Scheme in Australia that issues credit cards to the issuer’s customers;

“merchant” means a merchant in Australia that accepts a credit card for payment for goods or services;

“rules of the Scheme” mean the constitution, rules, by-laws, procedures and instruments of the Scheme as applied in Australia, and any other arrangement relating to the Scheme by which participants in the Scheme in Australia consider themselves bound;

a “specialist credit card institution” is an authorised deposit-taking institution that engages in, or proposes to engage in, credit card issuing, credit card acquiring or both (within the meaning of Regulation 4 of the Banking Regulations 1966) and does not otherwise conduct banking business within the meaning of Section 5 of the Banking Act 1959;

terms defined in the Payments Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 have the same meaning in this Access Regime.

4. Each participant in the Scheme must do all things necessary on its part to ensure compliance with this Access Regime.