The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given Visa and MasterCard permission to work together to phase out the use of signatures for card transactions.Yesterday, the ACCC announced that it has granted interim authorisation to the two card schemes to permit them and specific financial institutions to jointly fund and co-ordinate a public communications campaign.The ACCC said it had been advised that American Express and Diners Club would also have the ability to have their logos on planned advertising material.ACCC commissioner Jill Walker said in a statement: "A single message from industry is likely to lead to less confusion for customers and merchants."Visa and MasterCard are aiming to phase out signatures as a means of customer verification in Australia by the end of June next year. The companies approached the ACCC earlier this year, outlining their plan and seeking authorisation under the cartel provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act.Under the terms of the proposed plan, called PIN@POS, the scheme operators will amend their regulations, so that from March 14 next year merchant terminals will be required to enforce PIN on eligible transactions. In other words, if a transaction requires a PIN the terminal will not process a transaction without the PIN.From June 30 signatures will no longer be accepted. The new rule will not apply when a magnetic stripe is used to activate the transaction; it will only apply when the chip is used.Visa and MasterCard estimate that about 45 per cent of cardholders do not use PINs when they make payments.Visa had planned to phase out signatures in April this year but was forced to change. The submission explains that financial institutions thought the timeframe was too short (Visa first announced its policy in 2009).The financial institutions were also concerned that MasterCard had not given a date for its move to phase out signatures. Scheme members said there would be unnecessary duplication and confusion if the two schemes did not act together.