6.1 Cash acceptance for key sectors
6.1 Cash acceptance for key sectors
EU law directly attributes the status of legal tender to euro banknotes and coins but, neither primary nor secondary EU law currently defines the concept of legal tender. Consequently, in June 2023 the European Commission adopted a draft Regulation[1] seeking to address this issue. The European Commission proposal requires that euro cash acceptance should be mandatory across the euro area. It also provides flexibility around mandatory acceptance in circumstances where there is a prior agreement in place between both parties regarding payment method, or if the refusal to use cash in a transaction is made in good faith. The draft Regulation proposes that competent authorities in each Member State will be required to monitor the acceptance of payments in cash on an annual basis against a set of common indicators to be formulated by the European Commission and to take remedial measures if this monitoring shows that the mandatory acceptance of cash is being undermined. The draft Regulation specifically draws attention to the need to monitor the level of 'ex ante unilateral exclusions of payments in cash'. It defines such exclusions as including a 'no cash' sign and this convention exists in Ireland in a small number of retailers where up to now the rules have largely been based on contract law.
The ToR for the NPS sets out that the Strategy should examine whether there should be a legislative requirement put in place domestically relating to the mandatory acceptance of cash covering transactions for goods and services by certain classes of firms, sectors or sub-sectors, as well as the Government and the provision of public services. The European Commission’s proposal references specific sectors for which cash acceptance may be of more relevance, such as healthcare, supermarkets, post offices and pharmacies. The ECB on 13 October published an opinion on the legal tender proposal[2], in which the ECB suggested a number of changes in regards to the disallowing of ex-ante unilateral measures such as ‘no cash’ signs in shops. In the European Commission proposal, they were tolerated and were to be closely monitored at national level to ensure the prevalence of these measures did not undermine the role of cash.
The NPS will need to consider if legislative requirements should be put in place domestically to give powers to the Minister to designate certain classes of firms, sectors or sub-sectors that must accept cash for in-person transactions. As a result, they would then be precluded from engaging in ex-ante unilateral measures, for example ‘no-cash’ or ‘no-card’ sign in a window to a shop, or at a PoS, following designation by the Minister.
Questions
The European Commission will develop common euro area wide indicators via the legal tender proposal to monitor acceptance of cash. This would include, for example, the density of cash access points in relation to population, withdrawal and deposit conditions, including fees, the existence of different networks with different access modalities for customers, urban-rural and socio-economic variations, and access difficulties for certain population groups. From an Irish perspective, the NPS is interested in the public’s view on the acceptance of cash.
6.1 Do you believe there is, or there may be, a trend emerging of non-acceptance of cash in Ireland? Where or in what circumstances have you experienced this?
6.2 Do you agree with the principle of universal cash acceptance? Or do you believe it can be limited to certain critical classes of payment?
6.3 Do you believe it remains appropriate or necessary to ensure acceptance of cash as a form of payment? Do you believe you have enough choice as to how you can pay for everyday goods and services?
6.4 If monitoring shows that the acceptance of cash is inadequate, what should be considered when developing remedial measures?
6.5 Have people encountered situations where there have been price differences between payment types at the PoS? How prevalent/common are these situations? How can this be addressed? How do charges at ATMs impact on decisions to use cash?