Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) - Rules & Regulations

Scheme Requirements for enabling DCC

When choosing to offer DCC to your customers, it is important to comply with the scheme’s disclosure and receipt requirements to avoid fines and the loss of DCC privileges. To understand how DCC works and how you can enable it for your customers, first refer to our DCC Documentation. This article provides detailed guidance on scheme requirements.

Disclosure Requirements:

• DCC must not be offered by default or on an "opt-out" basis
• You need to clearly present all of the required disclosure information (below) to the cardholder on an electronic screen or pin pad (Effective 15 October 2022)

Disclosure Information must include:

• Total transaction amount of the goods and services shown in the merchant's local currency
• Currency symbol or code of the merchant's local currency
• Total transaction amount in the offered DCC transaction currency
• Currency symbol or code of the offered DCC transaction currency
• Exchange rate used to determine the DCC transaction amount
• Any commission, fees or markups over the wholesale or government mandated rate

Active Choice

Active choice is defined as the cardholder taking an action to indicate acceptance of DCC.

• A merchant or solution is required to prompt the cardholder to make a choice of currencies, following proper disclosure.
• Effective 17 April 2021 for new DCC solutions, and 15 October 2022 for existing DCC solutions, active choice in a card present environment must be made on an electronic screen or pin pad.
• You shouldn't use any language or procedures that may cause the cardholder to choose DCC by default. The offer must be presented in a clear manner and must not use biased or misleading language. The following are examples of non-compliance with this rule:
  • Verbal Influence: You tried to verbally influence the choice of currency
  • Size of Disclosures: The disclosures were not displayed in the same size
  • Formatting: The disclosures were not displayed in the same formatting

Transaction Receipt

All transaction receipts must include the following information:

• Total transaction amount of the goods and services shown in the merchant's local currency
• Currency symbol or code of the merchant's local currency
• Total transaction amount in the offered DCC transaction currency
• Currency symbol or code of the offered DCC transaction currency
• Exchange rate used to determine the DCC transaction amount
• Any commission, fees or markups over the wholesale or government mandated rate
• The words "Transaction Currency", "Transaction Amount", "Amount Charged" or any accepted variation before or after the DCC currency code or symbol
• Proof of the cardholder's choice to pay in the transaction currency
• A statement indicating that the cardholder has been offered a choice of currencies
• A statement indicating that “DCC service was provided by {Merchant Name}”
• DCC related information on the receipt must be presented in English or in a language that the cardholder can understand.

On the Adyen-generated receipt, the card holder receives the same information, as well as a DCC acceptance statement (I have been offered a choice of currencies and have chosen to accept DCC and pay in {currency} at the exchange rate provided by Adyen n.v.).

Example of a merchant receipt

 

Example of a card holder receipt

 

ATM and Unattended POS Terminals

Each screen message of an ATM or unattended POS terminal offering DCC must include:

• A clear message advising the Cardholder of the option to complete the transaction in either the local currency or the Cardholder’s billing currency
• The requested cash withdrawal amount reflected in both the local currency and the Cardholder’s billing currency
• The conversion rate that will be applied should the transaction be completed in the Cardholder’s billing currency
• Any other fee that can be charged to the transaction and the reason for this fee being applied.

Before the Cardholder is asked to select the currency in which they wish the transaction to be completed in, the terminal must clearly display the following wording, verbatim:

Note: Make sure you understand the costs of currency conversion as they may be different depending on whether you select your billing currency or the transaction currency.

DCC in Hospitality

When it comes to hospitality, you need to provide the same disclosure requirements as above. However, when Express Checkout is available to card holders, you need to inform them that the exchange rate appliaed will be determined at the day of checkout. We ask you to present this document to card holders upon check-in to share the necessary disclosure requirements for DCC.

Some businesses offer Express checkout, which allows their card holders to leave without any interaction with the front desk on the day of checkout. In these cases, it is important to make card holders aware of DCC foreign exchange rates and how they can change during the check-in process.

With a POS card present pre-authorisation, card holders can be offered DCC and at the time of check-in, must be made aware that the conversion rate can change and the latest foreign exchange rate will be applied at the day of checkout.

Conversion rates fluctuate day to day, and so the rate that a card holder sees at the day of check-in may be different than what actually gets applied. It is important to communicate this information to prevent any confusion.