The European Parliament is planning to cap the fees which retailers are forced to pay in order to process debit and credit card transactions.
If successful, the move should mean cost reductions for consumers as the fees are very often passed on to customers.
The use of debit and credit cards continues to rise and now there are 760 million of these in use in the EU. In 2013 total card purchases amounted to €100 billion.
MEPs voted in favour by 621 to 26 of introducing a cap on the fees which banks charges businesses for processing those payments.
In future the ceiling will be 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards.
The fees are not transparent and differ from country to country, but are believed to cost EU businesses some €10 billion a year.
The European Commission says it will mean big savings throughout the EU - €6bn a year for retailers and €730m a year for consumers.
Sceptics fear that retailers will not pass on the savings to customers.
