Originally Posted by
absoluy
The charges are valid for Cirrus (and Maestro, Plus and other similar brands). They're associated with using ATM or debit cards on the interbank network, but not credit cards.
Well, credit vs. debit criteria isn't really valid, because it is absolutely possible to have debit Visa Classic/MC Mass. Also, Maestro is definitely is using same network as regular Mastercard. Don't know about the rest.
Even using a card issued in the EU in another EU country (using a different currency) incurs the fee. You can be charged a surcharge fee by the ATM owner, or a transaction fee charged by the card issuer (or both) for conducting a transaction outside of the issuers own network of machines. It's not against any of MasterCard's or Visa's rules to charge the fees.
ATM owners fees (in case of withdrawing national currency) are FORBIDDEN in EMEA region. I've been using my Russian issued Maestro all over Europe and i've NEVER been charged an ATM owners fee. Issuing bank - sure, it is normal and valid fee. But not ATM owner fee.