3 4 April 2009

News:

The consumer credit industry is concerned that the UK's implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive (2008/48/EC) will undo reforms introduced by the Consumer Credit Act 2006, add burdens and create compliance costs. The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform's (BERR) consultation on proposals to implement the Directive closes on 10 June.

US creditors and financial institutions must implement a program to 'detect, prevent and mitigate instances of identity theft' by 1 May, under the Identity Theft Red Flags and Address Discrepancies rule - issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and other federal bank regulatory agencies in November 2007.

The European Commission announced, on 20 April, that it has appointed 50 members to its Payment Systems Market Expert Group - set up in December 2008 - following a call for applications. The Group aims to assist the Commission in preparing legislative acts or policy initiatives concerning payment systems, including fraud prevention. The Group will be chaired by the Commission's Internal Market and Services Directorate General.

Features:

On 14 April, the European Commission opened an infringement proceeding against the UK over the use by internet service providers (ISP) of an online behavioural tracking and profiling technology known as 'Phorm'. Phorm tracks all websites visited by a user whose ISP has signed up to the service and creates a profile for that user to be used for behavioural advertising. The European Commission said that the online tracking service breached European data protection laws and further, the Commission has concerns that there are structural problems in the way the UK has implemented EU rules ensuring the confidentiality of communications. If this case is ultimately referred to the European Court of Justice, the UK government may be forced to change the UK data protection laws.

The England and Wales High Court (EWHC), recently made clear that a trader's lack of knowledge of VAT fraud in its supply chain does not necessarily mean that its entitlement to VAT reimbursement cannot be challenged, even where HM Revenue & Customs has not explicitly directed the trader to cease trading in that area. For such entitlement to be lost, it is enough that the trader should have known that its transactions were more likely than not to be implicated in Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud. Aredhel Darnley, a Lawyer at Hammonds LLP, explains the High Court's decision in the Mobilx case and the implications.

The digital trade in precious metals represents a relatively new way of transferring value online, however there are increasing concerns about its use by fraudsters and money launderers. Dr. Raymond Choo, a Research Analyst on High Tech Crime and Anti-Money Laundering with the Australian Institute of Technology, examines the prevalence of such use, action taken against internet sites that have failed to protect against such use and the need for strategic alliances between specialist forensic investigators and law enforcement agencies to halt this practice.

Interchange fees involve a minimum charge set by card schemes as a proportion of each cross-border payment which a retailer's bank must pay to a purchaser's bank if it wishes to accept payments using the card scheme. Jennifer Hatcher, Chair of the Merchants Payments Coalition Legislative Subcommittee, outlines her views on a number of interchange issues that need resolving, and proposed legislative solutions to them.

Bulgaria has recently passed the Payment Service and Payment System Act, which will implement the Payment Services Directive by 1 November. Daniela Zareva, a Senior Associate with Noblex Law & Business Consulting, explains Bulgaria's implementation of the Directive and the impact it will have.

The National Payments Plan, published by the Payments Council in 2008, set out a 10-year vision and programme of work on UK payments. Peter Finlayson, the Director of Policy at the Payments Council, examines what has been achieved so far and discusses how the Plan will go forward.