The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against CLA Trading Pty Ltd better known by its trading name of Europcar.Central to the case are allegations by the ACCC alleges that Europcar customers who used Visa or MasterCard credit cards during July and August 2017 were charged fees above what it cost Europcar to accept those payments.In a media statement circulated yesterday, the ACCC alleged that Europcar imposed surcharges of up to 1.43 per cent, and that the amount overcharged ranged from at least 0.18 percentage points to as much as 0.65 percentage points for different cards and time periods.The ACCC also alleged excessive payment surcharges were imposed by Europcar on customers using Visa or MasterCard debit cards between July and 5 November 2017.According to the competition regulator, Europcar did not reduce its surcharges despite being notified in July 2017 by its bank - as required by the relevant Act - of the actual cost to accept payments by these cards. "Instead, it is alleged Europcar continued to charge customers in excess of this amount, in breach of the law," the ACCC stated.The regulator said this was the first litigation action it has commenced under the excessive surcharging provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which took effect from 1 September 2016 for large businesses (such as Europcar) and from 1 September 2017 for other businesses. "The ACCC's action serves as a warning that the ACCC is paying close attention to those businesses who seek to overcharge customers making payments by credit or debit cards," Sims said. "Businesses must not charge customers more than it costs them to process a card payment."This was underlined last week, when the ACCC used statutory enforcement powers to impose an infringement notice of A$12,600 on campervan and motorhome rental business Cruisin Motorhomes Pty Ltd for an alleged breach of the excessive payment surcharge laws.These surcharge allegations are not the earliest source of friction between the consumer regulator and the car hire company in recent times.In April 2016, the Federal Court declared a number of terms in Europcar Australia's 2013 standard rental agreement to be unfair, and therefore void, and ordered the company to pay a penalty of $100,000 for making false or misleading representations about consumers' liability in the event of vehicle damage.