On 4 February 2012, the ACCC launched proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Visa for breaches of the misuse of market power and exclusive dealing provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
The ACCC is alleging that Visa stifled competition for the provision of dynamic currency conversion (“DCC”) services by implementing and maintaining rules which banned Visa’s competitors from increasing the availability of DCC services on Visa’s network, at the point of sale, and banning the use of DCC transactions at ATMs using Visa cards. The ACCC is also alleging that Visa stifled competition by supplying access to its payment network to Australian banks but only on the condition that the banks agreed not acquire DCC services from suppliers of DCC services.
See our client alert prepared by Sharon Henrick and Michael Robert-Smith for a detailed review of the specific allegations, what the ACCC will need to prove, what the likely points of contention are and what the possible outcomes may be.
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