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Germany's Competition Regulator Preliminarily Finds PayPal Suspected of Violating the Country's Antitrust Law

Source: IT之家 Published: Policy & Society 中文 监管PayPal
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Germany's Federal Cartel Office said yesterday local time that, based on its preliminary assessment of PayPal's rules in the online retail payment market, the company's conduct may restrict competition among various payment services and is suspected of violating the country's antitrust law. PayPal is dominant in Germany's online retail payment market and charges higher transaction processing fees than competitors, and the preliminary assessment targets a clause it has implemented since 2018 that prohibits merchants from charging customers extra fees for using PayPal, with PayPal entitled to terminate business relationships with merchants that violate the ban. The regulator believes the practice may hinder market competition because merchants cannot show customers the fee differences between payment methods, eliminating the incentive for customers to use cheaper payment services.

Translation(model translation, not the source's own text)

German competition regulator preliminarily finds PayPal suspected of violating the country's antitrust law

IT之家 November 12 news: Germany's competition regulator, the Federal Cartel Office, said yesterday local time that, based on its preliminary assessment of PayPal's rules in the online retail payment market, the company's conduct may restrict competition among various payment services and is suspected of violating the country's antitrust law.

PayPal holds a dominant position in Germany's online retail payment market, and its transaction processing fees are also higher than those of competitors. As a result, when users pay the same amount through different channels, merchants receive relatively less revenue when settling through PayPal.

This preliminary assessment targets a clause PayPal has implemented since 2018: prohibiting merchants from charging customers extra fees for paying with PayPal. PayPal has the right to terminate business relationships with merchants that violate this prohibition.

IT之家 has learned that German law in principle allows merchants to charge customers who pay with PayPal, provided that the fee does not exceed the actual costs incurred by the merchant.

The Federal Cartel Office believes PayPal's practice may hinder market competition: merchants cannot show customers the fee differences between different payment methods, which eliminates the possibility of incentivizing customers to use cheaper payment services.

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The translation is machine-generated and individual terms may be off. Nothing is rewritten or cut; the original is authoritative.

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