Report on Consumer Protections for Payment Cardholders

This document reports on a CCP survey of legal and other consumer protections for payment cardholders in OECD Member countries. It also incorporates information gained during the CCP Roundtable on Consumer Protection for Payment Cardholders held in March 2001 in Berlin, Germany. The Roundtable brought together experts from academia, business, consumer groups and governments to discuss the issue of payment protections and what the OECD should be doing in this policy area. The report begins with an overview of past OECD work in the field of consumer protection for payment cardholders. It then discusses the current state of affairs with regard to cross-border e-commerce, payment security and consumer confidence, and reviews the consumer protection issues arising from the use of payment cards. A synopsis of the consumer protection regimes currently in place for payment cardholders in OECD Member countries is presented in the second half of the report. The concluding section focuses on the importance of cardholder education. As a step towards addressing the educational issue, the Committee developed a consumer education piece, “Using Payment Cards Online: Frequently Asked Questions”, which is attached as an annex.