What CEDP Means for Merchants: Visa’s Updated Enhanced-Data Requirements

What Is CEDP? (Commercial Enhanced Data Program)

CEDP is Visa’s new enhanced-data interchange framework for U.S. commercial and small-business Visa cards. It replaces the legacy Level 2 / Level 3 enhanced-data programs and consolidates them into a single unified “Product 3” interchange tier.

Beginning in 2025, merchants who want to qualify for reduced interchange on commercial-card transactions must submit accurate, validated enhanced data — not placeholders, defaults, or partial fields. CEDP is designed to improve data quality, strengthen fraud controls, and ensure merchants receive interchange benefits only when they meet Visa’s strict validation requirements.

Why CEDP Exists — What’s Driving the Change

Under the legacy Level 2 / Level 3 system, merchants often received enhanced-data interchange rates even when submitting incomplete or generic data. This created:

Inconsistent data quality
Limited auditability and fraud visibility
Minimal enforcement of accuracy or completeness

CEDP addresses these gaps by requiring merchants to submit meaningful, validated data such as full itemization, tax detail, freight, and shipping information. For merchants that already maintain structured invoices or ERP-driven order systems, CEDP rewards that precision with continued interchange savings — but only when strict standards are consistently met.

Visa’s goals include:

Richer transaction detail for reconciliation and reporting
Better support for compliance and audit trails
Improved fraud detection
More accurate accounting and line-item structure for B2B/B2G commerce

Date	What Happens
April 12, 2025	CEDP launches in the U.S. A new 0.05% participation fee begins applying on eligible transactions that submit enhanced data.
October 17–18, 2025	Legacy Level 3 interchange is replaced; Visa begins enforcing data validation and merchant "verification" for Product 3 rates.
April 2026	Legacy Level 2 sunsets, except for limited fuel/fleet-related MCC exceptions.

Merchants have a limited window (2025–2026) to update data submission processes or risk losing enhanced-data rate benefits entirely.

What Data Must Be Submitted (CEDP / "Product 3" Requirements)

To qualify for Product 3 interchange rates, each transaction must include:

Baseline Level 1 data
- Card details
- Total amount
- Transaction date
- Merchant ID
- Merchant category code (MCC)
Tax information
- Sales tax amount
- Or a valid tax-exempt indicator
- For some card types: customer code, PO number, or tax identifier
Full line-item detail
Each item must include:
- Item/SKU or product code
- Item description (meaningful, not generic)
- Unit cost & quantity
- Unit of measure
- Line-item totals
- Per-item or overall discounts
- Freight/shipping charges
- Duty/import charges (if applicable)

All line-items + tax + shipping must equal the total transaction amount. Visa's validation engine automatically checks for mathematical consistency.

Important Validation Rule:
Placeholder, partial, or filler data (e.g., "N/A", zero values, blank line items) will fail CEDP validation and result in immediate downgrade to standard commercial interchange.

Who Is in Scope (Card Types & Merchant Profiles)

Card Types Eligible

All U.S. commercial Visa cards:

Business Credit
Corporate
Purchasing cards

Under CEDP, even Business Credit cards can qualify for Product 3 — expanding the benefit to more transaction types.

Best-Fit Merchant Profiles

CEDP most strongly benefits:

B2B / B2G merchants
Distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers
Businesses using SKU-based catalogs, invoicing, or ERP/order-management systems
Merchants that commonly accept corporate/purchasing/business cards

Retail or restaurant POS systems often lack line-item enhanced-data support and may not qualify unless upgraded.

What's Changed Compared to the Old Level 2 / Level 3 System

Before CEDP	Now (CEDP / Product 3)
Level 2 and Level 3 were separate; partial data often still passed.	Single Product 3 tier; strict accuracy and completeness required.
Placeholder/generic data often qualified for enhanced rates.	Automated validation rejects incomplete or invalid data.
Level 2 & Level 3 were long-standing programs.	Level 3 ends Oct 2025; Level 2 sunsets April 2026 (with limited exceptions).
Business Credit cards inconsistently qualified.	Business Credit is fully eligible under CEDP.