Those who use their credit card online can now be even safer: companies cannot impose extra costs and, if they do, they risk a hefty fine. This is demonstrated by the sanctions announced today by the Competition and Market Authority against Norwegian Air e Blue Air. The two low-cost airlines will have to pay respectively 250 thousand and 300 thousand euros for imposing a surcharge to customers who wanted to pay by credit card.
With this measure the Authority applied article 62 of the Consumer Code for the first time, which for more than two years has sanctioned the absolute ban on charging Italian consumers for the use of a certain means of payment. The standard, of course, does not only concern credit cards, but also other forms of payment such as wire transfers and cash on delivery purchases.
"The introduction of this ban on the Italian market for all economic sectors and not just for air transport - writes the Authority in a note - makes any assessment of how to present the surcharge to consumers at the time of payment by card superfluous of credit, a practice which was also sanctioned, in the same provisions, for the period prior to the entry into force of the new legislation”.
Before the conclusion of the respective proceedings, the two companies were in order.
