Maestro Global Rules (PDF) - MasterCard

Service Providers
14.4 Acquiring Programs
14.4.1 Merchant Agreement
The Merchant Agreement establishing the terms of an acquiring relationship
between the Acquirer and a Merchant must:
1. Be signed by the Customer with no separate or other agreement between
the Service Provider and the Merchant regarding Activity. The Service
Provider may be a party to the Merchant Agreement, in which case the
Merchant Agreement must contain the substance of all of the following:
a. For purposes of this Merchant Agreement and performance of the
Merchant Agreement by the Service Provider, (i) the Service Provider is
the exclusive agent of the Customer; (ii) the Customer is at all times and
entirely responsible for and in control of Service Provider performance;
and (iii) the Customer must approve, in advance, any fee payable to
or obligation of the Merchant arising from or related to performance of
the Merchant Agreement.
b. The Merchant Agreement is not effective and may not be modified in
any respect without the express written consent of the Customer.
c. The Service Provider may not have access, directly or indirectly, to any
account for funds or funds due to a Merchant and/or funds withheld
from a Merchant for chargebacks arising from, or related to, performance
of this Merchant Agreement. The Customer may not assign or otherwise
transfer an obligation to pay or reimburse a Merchant arising from, or
related to, performance of the Merchant Agreement to a Service Provider
d. The Service Provider may not subcontract, sublicense, assign, license,
franchise, or in any manner extend or transfer to any third party, any
right or obligation of the Service Provider set forth in the Merchant
Agreement. The Customer may not waive, forgive, release, assign, or
fail to insist on strict performance of each requirement set forth in these
parts (a.) through (d).
2. Confirm the Customer’s responsibility for the Program and for the Merchant’s
Program participation and confirm that the Merchant Agreement does not
contain any provision that could be deemed to limit such responsibility.
3. Not take effect or state or imply that it takes or has taken effect prior to
being signed by the Customer.
4. Disclose the Customer’s name and sufficient information to enable the
Merchant to contact the Customer directly by telephone or in writing.
Refer to Chapter 7, “Acquiring” for more information about Merchant
Agreements.
14.4.2 Collection of Funds
Discount rates (or similar charges called by other terms) due to a Customer
from a Merchant must be collected directly by the Customer and not by the
Service Provider.
©1993–2012 MasterCard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.
14-12 9 November 2012 • Maestro Global Rules