// A Liberal Democrat MP has called on the government to give the retail industry 18 months of “breathing room”

// Chuka Umunn urges government for breathing room so retailers can adapt to the new anti-fraud rules

Liberal Democrat MP for Streatham, Chuka Umunna has urged the government to give the retail industry 18 months of “breathing room” to accustom to new anti-fraud rules.

Umunna said the new anti-fraud rules were a “ticking time bomb” for online retail.

He asked the secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy what assessment his office had made on the effects of the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules for both retailers and consumers.

Umunna said the new rules, which are contained within the wider EU second Payment Service Directive (PSD2), could “cause major disruption” for retailers, particularly online payments.

Many retailers and consumers were unaware of the changes required by SCA, and if brought into effect on September 14, it could “lead to the failure of nearly a third of ecommerce transactions,” according to Umunna.

The new rules are put into place to tackle payment fraud, which means that any purchases over £30 will require two-factor authentication.

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