- by croatiaweek
- in News
ZAGREB, 13 October 2026 (Hina) – Mastercard will introduce new rules for offline card payments across Europe in 2027, allowing consumers to pay for essential goods even when electricity or internet connections are disrupted.
The changes will also apply to Croatia and are intended to ensure people can continue making certain card payments during power cuts and network outages.
According to Mastercard’s Croatian office, all newly issued Mastercard cards in Europe will support offline payments from February 2027. By May 2027, all new payment terminals, as well as terminals replacing existing equipment, will also be required to support the technology.
Under the new system, customers will be able to pay by inserting their card into a terminal and entering their PIN, even when the terminal cannot connect to the payment network.
The service will cover essential purchases at supermarkets, grocery shops, petrol stations and pharmacies, as well as ticket machines and other transport-related vending machines.
Offline payments work by securely storing predefined spending limits on a card’s chip. If a terminal loses its network connection, it can approve a transaction locally, within a limit set in advance by the card-issuing bank.
The maximum permitted amount under the system will be €200 per transaction. Once the connection is restored, the transaction will be transmitted for processing and settlement.
The move follows disruptions that highlighted the vulnerability of digital payments during major power outages. In April 2025, a widespread blackout in Spain and Portugal left an estimated 55 million people temporarily unable to make digital payments, according to Mastercard.
The company said offline payments have already been introduced in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia. The wider European rollout from 2027 follows coordination with payment partners, national governments, regulators and central banks.
Brice van de Walle, Mastercard’s executive vice president for Core Payments, said the technology could help people continue purchasing necessities when unexpected disruptions occur.
He highlighted the importance of maintaining access to food, fuel and medicines when electricity supplies or network connections fail.
The new requirements are designed to make card payments more resilient during emergencies, although offline transactions will remain subject to the limits set by the cardholder’s issuing bank.