The Secretariat of Commerce established that shops that accept credit, purchase or debit cards and operate with electronic terminals will have to make the payment terminals -POS- available to the consumer. The measure keeps the control of the cards in the hands of consumers until the transaction is completed.

The measure aims to prevent fraud in the market that is carried out by capturing credit, purchase, or debit card data, damaging the economic interests of consumers. Until the application of this measure, consumers had to hand over their cards to make the payment to the merchant and lose control of their card. This loss of control makes the credit card subject to be used or the consumer's ID card details to be obtained for fraud and scams.

Shops will have 180 days from 12 March 2024 to adapt their customer services. Shops that violate this measure may be sanctioned under the penalties imposed by the Consumer Defense Law.

This measure aligns Argentina with other countries in the region and in the world where cards are no longer required to be handed over for payment.

In 2023 alone, there were 7,000 complaints to the Secretariat of Commerce about fraud and scams in financial services. This measure will not end fraud, but it has the potential to significantly limit its materialization.