Banks and other companies providing financial services are interested in the transaction fees they receive from cashless payments and offer incentives to merchants and consumers to stop using cash (Photo: European Commission)

Feature

The war on cash - is forcing 'no cash' shopping even legal?

Rule of Law

by Diane Rain, Montreal,

Since the beginning of the pandemic, consumers have increasingly faced "No Cash" signs when trying to pay for purchases.

For some, this poses no problem. For others, this means being unable to buy the goods they need or having to travel a longer distance to find a store that accepts cash.

In October 2020, Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra announced he would keep an eye on the increasing number of the country's stores refusing cash payments during the pandemic.

Hoekstra...