Card Scheme Rules

Visa and Mastercard each publish their own rulebooks: Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, and Mastercard Rules. These are comprehensive documents covering transaction processing, fraud management, chargeback procedures, data security, merchant category requirements, branding and acceptance policies, and member obligations. Both are regularly updated and publicly available.

Scheme rules have a layered enforcement structure. Card networks set the rules and fine or suspend members (acquirers) who violate them. Acquirers are responsible for ensuring their merchants comply and pass consequences, primarily fines, through to merchants via the acquiring agreement. Merchants are therefore bound by scheme rules contractually through their acquirer, even if they never directly interacted with the card network.

Key areas covered by scheme rules include: chargeback rights and time windows, retry policies after declined transactions, 3DS and SCA requirements, surcharging and convenience fee rules, minimum and maximum transaction amount restrictions, brand mark usage, acceptable merchant categories, and data security (PCI DSS compliance requirements referenced in scheme rules).

Scheme rules change regularly, typically several times per year. Updates are published by networks in advance, and acquirers are responsible for notifying merchants of changes that affect their operations. Merchants who are not systematically monitoring scheme rule updates risk non-compliance when rules change.

Scheme fines flow through acquirers to merchants: when a card network identifies a scheme rule violation, it assesses a fine against the acquirer. The acquirer passes this through to the merchant via the acquiring agreement's indemnification clause. Merchants may receive a fine charge weeks or months after the violation without a clear explanation if they are not monitoring scheme compliance proactively.

Retry rule violations are common and costly: card scheme retry rules restrict how and when declined transactions can be reattempted. Violating retry restrictions (retrying hard declines, exceeding daily retry limits) results in scheme fines that can accumulate rapidly for merchants with high transaction volumes and automated retry logic.

Surcharging rules vary significantly by market: card networks permit surcharging (charging customers a fee for paying by card) in some markets but prohibit it in others. Rules also restrict surcharge amounts to the merchant's actual cost of acceptance. Merchants implementing surcharging must comply with both scheme rules and local law.

Acquirer agreements reference scheme rules by incorporation: most acquiring agreements state that the merchant must comply with applicable card scheme rules as amended from time to time. This means scheme rule changes automatically become binding on merchants without requiring a new contract.