China – Certain Measures Affecting Electronic Payment Services (WT/DS413/R), Panel Report issued on 17 July 2012, adopted on 31 August 2012

These proceedings concern a series of legal requirements relating to electronic payment services that the United States alleges are maintained by China. According to the United States, these legal requirements, alone or in combination, ‘affect electronic payment services for payment card transactions and the suppliers of those services’. The United States challenges what it alleges to be the following legal requirements: requirements that mandate the use of China UnionPay, Co. Ltd. (CUP) and/or establish CUP as the sole supplier of electronic payment services for all domestic transactions denominated and paid in China's domestic currency, renminbi (RMB); requirements that payment cards issued in China bear the CUP logo; requirements that all automated teller machines (ATM), merchant card processing equipment, and point-of-sale (POS) terminals in China accept CUP cards; requirements on acquiring institutions to post the CUP logo and be capable of accepting all bank cards bearing the CUP logo; broad prohibitions on the use of non-CUP cards for cross-region or inter-bank transactions; and requirements pertaining to card-based electronic transactions in Hong Kong, China and Macao, China. The United States requests that the Panel find that each of the legal requirements identified in the request for the establishment of a panel is inconsistent with China's obligations under Article XVI:1 and XVI:2(a) and Article XVII of the GATS. The United States further requests, pursuant to Article 19.1 of the DSU, that the Panel recommend that China bring its measures into conformity with its WTO obligations.