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The British Columbia Supreme Court hascertified a conspiracy-based class action against Visa, MasterCard and 10 other major Canadian financial institutions.

Mary Watson, a Vancouver furniture retailer, filed the suit. It complains that the defendants “unlawfully interfered with the economic interests of merchants” by forcing them to accept all Visa and MasterCard credit cards, including premium cards.

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Merchants pay much higher fees for those cards but are not allowed to charge more for accepting them. The suit alleges that the premium fees cost Canadian merchants billions of dollars each year.

“The decision touches on some important concepts in competition law and will no doubt have implications for what is necessary to bring future Competition Act related class actions,” says Anita Banicevicof Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg.