WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation is celebrating theintroduction of a measure which is designed to force both sides ofthe card interchange fight to settle their differences or facearbitration by the courts.

H.R.5546, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act would require the majorcard brands to negotiate with merchants to reach an interchangesettlement. If an agreement can be reached, both sides would haveto submit to binding arbitration by a panel of judges appointed bythe Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission.

“This legislation would use the nation's antitrust laws to reinin the greed of the credit card companies,” NRF Senior VicePresident Mallory Duncan said. “With the rapidly increasing use ofplastic, credit card companies and their banks are seeing awindfall that is costing U.S. consumers tens of billions of dollarseach year. These are fees that most consumers don't even knowthey're paying because Visa, MasterCard have tried to keep themsecret. The introduction of this legislation marks the beginning ofthe end of credit card company rip-offs.”