Case C‑643/16

American Express Company

v

The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Justice (England & Wales), Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive (EU) 2015/2366 — Payment services in the internal market — Article 35(1) — Obligation to provide authorised or registered payment service providers with access to payment systems — Point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 35(2) — Inapplicability of that obligation to payment systems composed exclusively of payment service providers belonging to a group — Applicability of that obligation to three party payment card schemes that have entered into co-branding or agency arrangements — Validity)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 7 February 2018

1.        Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Questions referred in a fictitious national dispute — Inadmissibility — No act or omission of a national authority capable of giving rise to an action for judicial review — Not capable, in itself, of rendering the dispute fictitious

(Art. 267 TFEU)

2.        Approximation of laws — Payment services in the internal market — Directive 2015/2366 — Obligation to provide payment service providers with access to payment systems — Applicability to three party payment card schemes that make use of an agent for the purposes of supplying payment services — Inapplicability to schemes that have entered into a co-branding agreement with a co-branding partner who does not provide payment services with respect to the co-branded products

(European Parliament and Council Directive 2015/2366, Art. 35(1) and (2), first para., (b))

3.        Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope and limits –Directive subjecting three party payment card schemes that have entered into agency contracts to the payment systems access obligation

(Art. 296(2) TFEU; European Parliament and Council Directive 2015/2366, Recital 49, 50 and 52 and Art. 35(1))

4.        Approximation of laws — Payment services in the internal market – Directive 2015/2366 — Obligation to provide payment service providers with access to payment systems — Applicability to three party payment card schemes that make use of an agent for the purposes of supplying payment services — Breach of principle of proportionality — None

(European Parliament and Council Directive 2015/2366, art. 35)

1.      See the text of the judgment.

(see paras 19, 20)

2.      Point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 35(2) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC, must be interpreted as meaning that a three party payment card scheme that has entered into a co-branding agreement with a co-branding partner does not lose the benefit of the exception provided for by that provision and, therefore, is not subject to the obligation laid down in Article 35(1) of that directive in a situation where that co-branding partner is not a payment service provider and does not provide payment services within that scheme with respect to the co-branded products. However, a three party payment card scheme that makes use of an agent for the purposes of supplying payment services loses the benefit of that exception and, therefore, is subject to the obligation laid down in Article 35(1).

(see para. 69, operative part 1)

3.      See the text of the judgment.

(see paras 73, 74, 78, 79)

4.      See the text of the judgment.

(see paras 84-87)