DCC – Specific Transaction Requirements

DCC allows a choice of transaction types. Each has specific requirements:

• Chip and Pin Transactions
• Telephone Orders
• Mail Order
• eCommerce Transactions
• Recurring Transactions
• Pre-authorisation & Completions (Check In and Check Out)
• Express Check Out
• Refunds
• Gratuity Transaction
• DCC on Proximity Payments
• Transactions where “User Agreements” are in place

Chip and PIN Transactions

Before entering their PIN, the consumer must be given access to the information necessary to inform their choice to use DCC, or not. This is the, ‘Choice before PIN principle’.

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Telephone Orders

You must have written procedures or scripts for processing telephone orders including:

• An explanation of the DCC service being offered.
• Consumer choice and disclosure of information.

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Mail Order

When DCC is offered on mail orders, the order form must disclose the:

• Final DCC amount.
• Mark-up percentage applied to the transaction.

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eCommerce Transactions

Before authorising payment over the Internet, you must display the information necessary to inform the consumer’s choice to use DCC, or not.

The consumer must accept (opt-in to) or decline (opt-out of) the DCC service by either:

• Checking one of two grouped radio option buttons: one to accept DCC and the other to decline DCC, or
• Checking a single Boolean checkbox to accept DCC.

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Recurring Transactions

To process DCC on recurring transactions:

• The consumer must agree to accept DCC for all subsequent transactions by opting-in during the first transaction.
• All relevant financial information must be provided to the consumer before the first transaction and be available for all subsequent transactions.
• A process must be available for the consumer to update their decision and to choose not to accept DCC for subsequent transactions.

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Pre-authorisation & Completions (Check In and Check Out)

Before pre-authorising or completing a payment, you must share all the information necessary to inform the consumer’s choice to use DCC, or not.

Best practise also optimises the DCC take up rate and revenue opportunity at the completion stage:

• Review the DCC decision made at pre-authorisation stage.
• Inform the staff member and, or cardholder of the original DCC decision.
• Guide the staff member on sharing the benefits of DCC with the cardholder before a final decision is made and if present at the completion stage.

For example, a POS Terminal must not ask or require a consumer to choose to have the Transaction completed in a particular currency, whether by selecting “YES” or “NO” or by displaying different currency selections in red and green colours, or otherwise.

Learn more from the DCC – Consumer/Cardholder Choice Rules​ section.

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Express Check Out

To enable DCC transactions at the Express Check Out when the card is not present and when the consumer has opted-in to DCC at Check In, a Pre-Authorisation Receipt is required. This must have a checked box to confirm the cardholder’s opting-in to DCC. (Find a Sample Pre-Auth Receipt).

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Refunds

Depending on domestic consumer legislation, the consumer may request a refund of all or part of the purchase price.

A refund transaction must be processed in the same currency used for the original purchase.

When the merchant is unable to determine whether the DCC service was opted-in to, or not during the original transaction, then DCC is not selected when performing a refund.

Contactless refunds

When the original DCC authorisation was completed during a contactless transaction and when the reader supports it, we recommend that you perform a contactless refund.

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Gratuity Transaction

DCC is permissible on Gratuities and Tips. If the POI Solution is configured for Gratuity, the transaction receipt should contain the following data:

• Tip Amount in the Merchant Pricing Currency.
• Tip Amount in the Cardholder Currency.
• Total Transaction Amount including the Tip.
• Total Amount in Merchant Pricing Currency including the Tip.

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DCC on Proximity Payments

Card Schemes do not permit DCC on low value Proximity Transactions where the transaction amount is less than, or equal to the applicable Reader CVM limit. DCC is permissible on High Value Proximity Payments that are above the CVM limit.

To simplify the transaction flow, Card Schemes have agreed that these transactions should take place using a single tap process. This is facilitated by the transaction cryptogram being generated in the merchant’s base currency and not the final transaction currency. It is widely accepted that the cryptogram is only used by the issuers to authenticate the transaction, and not to determine the authorisation amount.

Example Transaction:

A US Consumer Paying for Goods at a Euro, DCC-enabled Terminal:

• The Euro Amount is entered on the terminal. (Transaction amount is above the CVM limit).
• The Cardholder taps their card and the cryptogram is generated based in Euro currency.
• The online DCC inquiry message is sent.
• In the response and when the card is eligible for DCC the DCC currency, exchange rate, and mark-up percentage are provided to inform the cardholder’s choice.
• The Cardholder selects US Dollar Amount.
• The authorisation is sent online with the original Cryptogram generated in the merchant’s base currency
• The issuer will use the merchant base currency in the authorisation message to decrypt the cryptogram and there should be no impact on the approval or decline response.

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Transactions where “User Agreements” are in place

DCC must not be offered by default or require an “opt-out”. However, merchants can provide an opt-in solution when a consumer agrees the card details are saved on file to enable future transactions to also use DCC.

This agreement applies only when the cardholder and the merchant have an on-going relationship covered by a user agreement or contract. For example, when the consumer can avail of an incentive such as when renting a vehicle under a membership scheme.

The ongoing DCC agreement must be an opt-in process. It:

• Must include a statement that the cardholder agrees that DCC will take place for the current and future transactions.
• Must indicate any currency conversion mark-up on the exchange rate that will be applied over a wholesale or government-mandated rate. 
• Must not use any language or procedures that may cause the cardholder to choose DCC by default.
• Must not misrepresent either explicitly or implicitly that its DCC service is a Visa® service.
• Must notify the cardholder in writing when the mark-up increases and must again be offered the choice to opt-in to DCC.
• Must enable the cardholder to opt-out of the DCC service on a transaction by transaction basis.

Even with an agreement in place, when the consumer elects to complete the transaction in a face to face environment, they must be provided full disclosure and choice. 

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