Arielle Steffen

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As of January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is now in effect. As we explained here, the CCPA imposes requirements on merchants and payment processors to protect personal information of California residents.

Enforcement of the law does not begin until July 1, 2020, which is good because the regulations interpreting the law have not even been finalized yet. The draft regulations, published this past October by California’s Attorney General, propose rules relating to consumer disclosures, processing consumer requests, and other implementation details. Final rules will be issued before the July 1, 2020 enforcement date.
Continue Reading California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Goes into Effect

The legality of surcharging keeps getting more confusing. Recent reports seem to indicate that New York’s law prohibiting surcharging was overturned. Unfortunately, that overstatement confuses the actual status of the statute.

As you may recall, the card brand rules allow merchants to add a fee on top of the regular price for goods and services, also known as a surcharge, if a consumer pays by credit card. The rules require merchants to follow certain conditions and requirements if they surcharge credit card transactions.
Continue Reading The Surcharge Muddle: NY Ban Law Survives Lawsuit

On December 13, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that an independent sales organization can be held liable for all damages suffered by consumers as a result of a merchant’s violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”).  The court rejected the ISO’s argument that its liability should be limited to the fees it received from the merchants as a result of the merchants’ processing activities.
Continue Reading The Third Stark Lesson: ISO Liable Under TSR For All Merchant Fraud Damages