A setback, but not an abandonment. Every year, payment in cash is losing ground in favor of the bank card, especially since the arrival of contactless. According to a Panorabanques study carried out with the Poll research institute
6�s French people, for their part, absolutely never pay for their purchase in cash. Cash therefore still has its place with our merchants, especially the smallest ones, but sometimes they do not accept this means of payment. As the Public Service website explains, “euro banknotes and coins are the only means of payment in France which, in principle, cannot be refused to you”. A merchant who refuses to cash in coins and banknotes can be fined 150 euros.
Rules that seem somewhat forgotten by some professionals… On social networks, testimonials are multiplying in this direction, which prompted the Banque de France to react this Tuesday, June 6, 2023. New announcements are to be noted concerning payment in species, here they are.
Recall the order. In a press release published yesterday, the National Payment Methods Committee – which reports directly to the Banque de France – recalled “its attachment to users’ freedom of choice in the means of payment they wish to use, in any place and in any circumstance”. In question, some shops open on Sunday would have refused that customers pay for their purchases other than by credit card. Cash is legal tender in France and “must therefore be accepted by traders, every day including Sundays, as well as at events such as festivals or sporting events”.
The Ministry of the Economy and the Banque de France will be “particularly attentive” to compliance with these rules, adds the press release, while a reminder had already been sent in 2022 to several names in the large distribution sector. If you are in your right to want to pay by cash, merchants can nevertheless refuse you this means of payment on certain occasions. Here they are.
In certain situations, the merchant has the right to refuse your cash payment. Here they are, according to the Public Service website.
The official website adds that “in some cases, cash payment may be refused to you for technical or security reasons. For example, merchants in night hours may refuse cash payment as a security measure”. This is also the case for parking meters, “as a measure of protection against acts of vandalism”.
