The Spanish Competition Court authorizes an agreement between two Spanish payment systems on cash withdrawals from their ATMs (Euro 6000 / 4B)

Three card payment systems operate in the Spanish market. Two of them, Euro 6000 and 4B, reached an agreement (Agreement set on the 17th of May 2001, from now on “The Agreement”) setting the conditions that govern bilateral services provided when using their debt cards on their respective automatic teller machines (ATMs). Following the procedure set by the Ley de Defensa de la Competencia (Spanish Competition Law) both card payment systems asked the Spanish Competition Court to grant The Agreement an individual exemption. [1] The Agreement sets a ceiling to the interchange fee that card issuers pay acquirers for each cash withdrawal made at one of their ATMs. The maximum interchange fee is set at 0.45€; however, banks are allowed to agree on a smaller fee. The Agreement also