Press Release: Data protection: New guidelines on payment card fraud prevention databases

The EU Committee of Data Protection Authorities ('Article 29 Working Party') endorsed guidelines on the collection and processing of data on merchants whose contracts to accept payment cards have been terminated, 2 March 2005. The guidelines were intended to help banks prevent fraud and ensure that merchants' privacy was better protected. Databases on 'terminated' merchants are very important for the banking industry. In the UK, one of the EU countries where the operation of these databases did not pose any legal problems, substantial fraud savings had been made. Their use across Europe was thought to potentially generate savings of €200 million.