The Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 878 "On the implementation of settlements for sold goods (provided services) using special payment means."
According to the document, by 2012 the vast majority of business entities involved in trade, catering, and service provision, and using cash registers (RRO or cash registers) in accordance with the law, will be required to accept payment cards. The acceptance of "plastic" must be carried out at no less than half of the cash registers at the point of sale.
It should be noted that depending on the scale of the companies' businesses, different deadlines for compliance with the resolution's requirements are set. Thus, large players (except for small business entities) operating in cities with a population of over 100,000 are required to install PoS terminals by July 1, 2011.
However, small traders in settlements with populations of 25,000 to 100,000 people can comply with the resolution's requirement with a six-month delay — by the beginning of 2012. To be fair, there are exceptions.
For example, closed-type catering establishments (in particular, student and school canteens) are not required to accept cards, nor are shops with an area of no more than 20 sq.m (except those located at gas stations). Merchants operating in settlements with a population of less than 25,000 people are also exempt from mandatory PoS terminalization.
Notably, the draft resolution was prepared almost a year ago. The initial version of the document was stricter towards traders, as it provided for control by the State Tax Administration of Ukraine over their compliance with the provisions of the resolution. In addition, it was proposed to introduce a maximum amount for cash payments.
In particular, the possibility of banning cash payments for purchases costing more than 10,000 UAH was considered. Together
Be that as it may, resolution No. 878 does not provide for sanctions against traders for non-compliance with its provisions. However, the main lobbyist for the adoption of the documentAlexander KarpovThe director of the Ukrainian Interbank Association of Payment System Members (EMA; Kyiv; since 1999; about 100 members) assures that control will still be exercised.
Tax authorities monitor the cash operations of merchants based on the NBU resolution No. 637 dated 15.12.04. As soon as this document includes provisions on the mandatory presence of POS terminals, the tax inspection will be able to control compliance with this requirement. There is already a corresponding directive from the Prime Minister to the First Deputy of the NBU to resolve the issue of the control procedure.(and this is despite the so-called independence of the National Bank. —Ed.)”,— says Mr. Karpov.
According to his estimates, by 2012, 200,000 to 400,000 new terminals will be installed in the country. At the same time, it is possible that some merchants will have to do this at their own expense. If we are talking about substantial turnover, banks are interested in placing PoS terminals in such companies. Meanwhile, small merchants are not of interest to bankers, so they will be forced to comply with the Cabinet's requirements at their own expense.
"For large retail chains, there are no problems, as they have already installed terminals. For smaller retailers, of course, it will be quite difficult, as there are concerns that banks may overcharge commissions or refuse to install terminals at their own expense."— notesIgor Kishko, General Director of the Ukrainian Trade Association (Kyiv; professional trade organization; since 2008).
According to experts, PoS terminals will soon be increasingly installed at the expense of merchants. For example, Mr. Karpov is convinced that even small players are quite capable of placing such devices with their own funds."The terminal costs no more than the mobile phone in the pocket of any entrepreneur, namely $300," —he says.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of July 1, 2010, banks had installed 107,000 PoS terminals (of which 79,400 were at retail outlets, the rest in bank branches). The bankers themselves are skeptical about their ability to increase the number of PoS terminals by 4-5 times within one year.
To purchase such a quantity of even the most primitive devices, it is necessary to spend $60-90 million. Moreover, during a crisis period, when unprofitable banks try to save on everything and, on the contrary, optimize their networks.— admits the head of the card business of a major bank, who wished to remain anonymous.
Source: business.ua
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