Government eyes incentives to encourage credit card transactions

The Finance Ministry is trying to make credit card facilities an obligation for all businesses through an amendment to the law on payment confirmation and collection.

The draft bill’s proposed amendments provide for the addition of a new article making it obligatory to have credit card payment facilities, according to INSIDER. It also provides that businesses that accept electronic transactions will have to contract with licensed providers of credit card services. It is made clear that for electronic transactions they are forbidden to deal with unauthorized providers.

The mandatory provision of credit card equipment at customer service points will be regulated in detail through a decree. The decree will also define the fines to be imposed in the event of a breach, but also the necessary information that should be provided to consumers.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades had referred to this development during his 2019 budget speech before parliament, noting that the obligation to have equipment for electronic payments by all service or product providers would be promoted.

State lotteries

The draft bill includes another important innovation – the introduction of state prize draws for those who make payments by cards or other electronic means of payment but also for those receiving payments through electronic means. It is underlined that a state lottery programme will be created, through which lucky winners will be rewarded with cash or prizes in kind.

It is also clarified that the amount of money to be distributed will come out of the  state budget. However, further details on frequency, prizes and criteria will be set by a ministerial decree. The practice of state lotteries was implemented in Greece in recent years in a bid to create incentives for plastic money transactions.

The draft bill also provides for the introduction of penalties for companies submitting late or inaccurate data in relation to intra-group transactions. The highest fine to be imposed in such cases will be of the order of 20,000 euros.

 

Read more:

https://in-cyprus.com/cyprus-one-of-the-countries-with-cheap-plastic-money/