Eftpos Payments Australia will proceed with its plan to introduce a new interchange fee regime on October 1, despite losing a Federal Court challenge brought by retailer Aldi Stores.Justice Peter Jacobson ruled yesterday that EPAL had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in a series of publications in August and September that referred to the impact of its new interchange fee model on consumers.Jacobson ordered EPAL to publish advertisements correcting its previous statements and clarifying aspects of the changes to Eftpos interchange fees.However, he did not consider injunctive relief was appropriate, leaving EPAL to stick to its timetable.From October 1, for those members of EPAL that opt into the new fee model, the following interchange fees will apply: for all purchases of $15 or more the acquirer will pay the issuer five cents; for all purchases of less than $15 there will be no interchange fee; and for each cash withdrawal (whether combined with a purchase or not) the issuer will be required to pay the acquirer 15 cents. Under the old model, fees were paid by the consumer's bank (the issuing bank) to the merchant's bank (the acquiring bank). The new model reverses the direction of most payments.These changes were announced in March. EPAL and the banks received some negative press as a result.On August 12, EPAL issued a media release saying Australian consumers "should face no new charges following planned changes to Eftpos interchange fees."EPAL's managing director, Bruce Mansfield, wrote a column for the Herald Sun that was published on the same day. And, on September 8, EPAL issued a clarification, saying that "it remains to be seen… what retailers may do in relation to their customers."Jacobson found that all three statements contravened section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (formerly section 52 of the Trade Practices Act).In his judgement he said: "The substance of Aldi's submission was that the August 12 press release is misleading because the whole purpose underlying the new interchange fee is to reverse the previous regime so that acquirers will bear the cost, which they will pass on in whole or part to retailers, who will inevitably pass that cost on to consumers."During his cross-examination, Mansfield was asked about email exchanges he had had with executives from a number of financial institutions and retailers that appeared to suggest EPAL was being given information about higher merchant and consumer costs that would result from changes to the interchange regime.Jacobson said: "The (August 12) release is misleading because it was established in the evidence that prior to the date of the release Westpac and St George had adopted a policy of passing some part of the charge levied on the acquiring bank on to a significant number of their retail customers."Moreover, Mr Mansfield was aware of this before he authorised the publication of the release."EPAL argued that, at the time of the release, 79 per cent of the acquiring members were either planning not to pass on any cost increase to merchants or had not