I’ve definitely seen some places in Europe that only take credit cards from within Europe, such as the French mobile phone provider SFR, and others that charge extra fees for non-European cards, such as the German airline Lufthansa. So whatever set of conditions leads to the outcome you’re describing might be specific to the Netherlands. Most merchants I’ve seen within Germany don’t treat European credit cards any differently from foreign ones, but some do reject cards without a 3D Secure system.
That's interesting; major Dutch banks ING [1] and Rabobank [2] say that acceptance of non-EEA credit cards will be mandatory, with ING explicitly stating that this is due to MasterCard and Visa rules:
> 5. What if I don’t want to accept credit card payments?
> While there is no immediate need to make this change, by the end of 2024 all merchants will be obliged to accept all card products from Mastercard and Visa, under the Honor All Cards Rule, which states that if a merchant accepts one type of that brand’s cards, they must accept them all. Merchants who accept Visa and Mastercards’ debit cards are also required to accept Visa and Mastercard’s credit cards (if they are issued outside EEA)
> This means that if you as a merchant accept any kind of Mastercard or Visa card, you must accept all Mastercards or Visa cards: debit, credit, prepaid and commercial. However, legislation does allow you, as a merchant, to refuse acceptance of credit cards issued in the EEA that are in scope of the Interchange Fee Regulation, article 10; if you wish to arrange this, you can reach out to your terminal supplier.
Strangely though, the third major bank (ABN AMRO) actually doesn't seem to mention this and only mentions EEA debit cards [3].
From your quote, it sounds like the ability to exclude EEA credit cards will only to ones "that are in the scope of the Interchange Fee Regulation, article 10", with other EEA credit cards still being mandatorily accepted. Am I misreading?
