The Berlin Regional Court is examining a number of claims for damages by companies due to card payment fees. The lawsuit by the drugstore chain Rossmann against four central associations of German banks that operate the Girocard system started on Monday.
According to the court, the company is demanding damages of around 8.5 million euros for excessive merchant fees for card payments in the years 2004 to 2014. It is also demanding reimbursement of the costs associated with the legal dispute. It was initially unclear whether the civil chamber responsible for antitrust law would make a decision on the same day.
According to the court, there are still ten other comparable cases before a lawsuit was withdrawn. These are to be examined at oral hearings in the period from November 8th to December 1st. The main issue here is whether the uniform merchant fee for Girocard payments, which was valid until 2014, was an illegal cartel agreement.
At that time, merchants in Germany paid the bank that issued the card a standard fee specified by the banking associations for each payment transaction with the electronic cash system using the giro or EC card. It was 0.3 percent of the respective turnover, but at least 8 cents. A reduced rate applied to transactions at petrol stations. In 2014, the German banks gave up this practice under pressure from the Federal Cartel Office.
