EFTPOS Access Update
APCA's project to develop practicable and equitable EFTPOS access rules is running to schedule.
APCA commissioned the legal firm Gilbert and Tobin to assist in developing access rules in October of last year. This has been key to the progress being made.
A step-by-step approach
EFTPOS arrangements do not lend themselves easily to the development of access rules. There is not one or two provider(s) of a well-defined service and a number of known access seekers as is the norm for access regimes. Instead, most participants in EFTPOS are to some degree and some extent access providers. The services being provided are varied and require close definition. It is not immediately clear who the access seekers are and exactly what it is that they require in terms of access. Against this backdrop it has been essential to take a disciplined step-by-step approach to the development of access rules.
As a first concrete step, following a lengthy period of open discussion and engagement with stakeholders, the current EFTPOS arrangements were documented in a report. The report was based in large part on individual discussions with representatives of each of the institutions represented on the EFTPOS Access Working Group (EAWG).
The EAWG has representatives from all fifteen members of APCA's Consumer Electronic Clearing System (CECS) together with representation from the retail and oil sectors and a representative from First Data International. Engagement with stakeholders has been, and will remain, a central component of APCA's EFTPOS access project.
'Parameters report' clarifies direction
The second important step has been the production by Gilbert and Tobin in consultation with APCA of a 'parameters report'. The report on current access arrangements identified and defined three key services to which access rules would apply. They were:
- physical connection and switching;
- clearing; and
- settlement.
The 'parameters report' examined a range of alternative answers for the following questions:
- Which participants should have access obligations under the new regime? How should they meet these obligations?
- What is the scope of the obligation to give direct access to a key service? When should access seekers be entitled to have direct access to a key service? When should access seekers be entitled to have indirect access to a key service?
- What is required to implement the new access regime?
An EAWG meeting took place on 29 January to discuss the 'parameters report' and, so far as possible, to narrow down the range of alternative answers. The meeting was successful in producing a broad consensus in terms of significantly narrowing the alternative answers and thereby providing better clarity on the way to proceed.
The next stage of the project is building towards the development of optional access regimes. A firm of economic consultants has been recently commissioned to assist with this and in particular to assist in getting to grips with the economic issues involved.
CECS Manual
Running by the side of the EFTPOS Access project, and integral to its finalisation, is a project to review, update and reconstruct the CECS Manual. The Manual is a technical document covering the operational, security and message standards underlying interchange between debit card Acquirers and Issuers.
One of the principal objectives of the project is to ensure that the Manual is complete in covering all of the technical matters that need to be contractually determined between Acquirers and Issuers. Another is to eliminate, so far as possible, optional ways of doing things to ensure there is a uniform set of standards. A third is to structure the Manual so that it can be referred to without ambiguity by potential Acquirers and Issuers in respect of the applicable technical standards they must meet to operate in the debit card arena.