Podcast guest Dan Witkemper, Director, North America Payment at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, tells us what truckstops and travel centers should know about EMV chip technology to ensure they’re ready by the 2020 deadline.
Payment Systems
Is Your Truckstop or Travel Center Ready for EMV?
Credit cards are now being issued with a small chip (called the EMV chip), and business owners across the country have had to update their point-of-sale systems to accommodate chip cards. The first point-of-sale requirements took effect in 2015, but another deadline is on the horizon. Fuel retailers have until Oct. 1, 2020, to install EMV chip-card readers at automated fuel dispensers. Here’s what you should know about EMV chip technology to ensure you’re ready by the 2020 deadline.
Guidance on Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fee Class-Action Settlement
A federal Court has preliminarily approved a proposed settlement of a maximum of approximately $6.24 billion and a minimum of at least $5.54 billion in a class action lawsuit, called In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL 1720 (MKB) (JO). The lawsuit is about claims that merchants paid excessive fees to accept Visa and Mastercard cards because Visa and Mastercard, individually, and together with their respective member banks, violated the antitrust laws. A number of NATSO members who may be a part of this class have sought guidance as to how this process will proceed and what steps they should take as part of this process.
NATSO Joins Letter on Data Security Policy Ahead of Privacy Hearings
NATSO recently joined a number of other consumer-facing retail trade associations in sending a letter to lawmakers articulating retailers’ top principles for any legislation affecting the protection of consumer data privacy. The letter urges Congress to establish a single, uniform, nationwide data privacy law. “Our members have no higher priority than relationships with their customers,” the letter states. “To comprehensively protect Americans, any federal data privacy legislation should apply to all industry sectors . . . .All of the companies involved in handling that chain of data should have legal obligations to properly guard it under privacy law, and the law should not solely rely on private contracts to create those legal obligations.”
NATSO Submits Letter to FTC Outlining Data Security Principles
NATSO joined more than 10 retail trade associations in sending a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) outlining the groups’ principles on data security standards and consumer notification requirements in the event of breaches of sensitive data. The letter was in response to the FTC’s request for input on the current state of competition and consumer protection law.
Visa, Mastercard Face Next Fight In $6.2 Billion Settlement
In the largest-ever class-action settlement of a U.S. antitrust case, Visa and Mastercard agreed to pay between $5.54 billion and $6.24 billion to a class of more than 12 million merchants who accept the payment networks’ cards, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
House Committee Approves Data Breach Legislation
The House Financial Services Committee on Sept. 13 favorably reported legislation that would preempt the patchwork of state data breach notification requirements and establish a single national standard.
American Express Prevails in Supreme Court Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25 handed down a decision in the case of Ohio v. American Express, ruling that American Express did not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act. The decision comes after a long battle that started in 2010 when the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), in conjunction with several state attorneys general, brought the case against Visa, Mastercard and American Express arguing that the rules promulgated by the card networks preventing merchants from offering discounts were a violation of antitrust laws.
NATSO Expresses Concerns With Draft Data Breach Notification Legislation
NATSO urged members of the House Committee on Financial Services to continue discussions with stakeholders before moving draft data breach notification legislation to a markup because the draft bill would be less effective than existing law.
Supreme Court to Hear American Express Antitrust Case
The U.S. Supreme Court said Oct. 16 that it will hear an antitrust case examining American Express’s rules that bar merchants from encouraging customers to use one credit card over another, a practice known as “steering.” The decision offers new hope to retailers who for years have argued that American Express’s merchant agreements violate antitrust laws and result in higher costs for consumers.
NATSO, Trade Associations Press for Uniform Data Breach Law
NATSO joined trade associations representing more than a million businesses in telling Congress that any new federal law on data breach notification should apply to all industries that handle consumer data.