This study provides the European Commission with a comprehensive inventory of the types of interest rate restrictions that exist in the EU Member States (Part 1) and gives an assessment of the impact of these on both credit markets and people (Part 2).  Part 1 offers an inventory of interest rate restrictions in the EU Member States and details the mechanisms and levels at which interest rate ceilings are set in those countries with such a regulatory structure in place.  Part 2 discusses legal IRR as an intervention in the market and its effects on competition and on social and economic welfare. Both parts relate to each other through their common definition of Interest Rate Restrictions, (referred to as IRR throughout this study), and the purpose of IRR which is to ensure that consumer credit markets function well and that they promote the social welfare of people by means of appropriate and adequately priced credit products. The report indicates that there is considerable variation in the attitude of EU Member States toward the regulation of consumer credit prices. In addition, even where there is a desire to regulate prices, Member States vary considerably in the extent to which they seek to achieve this and the methods that they adopt:  In some Member States strict interest rate caps are defended because credit at a high price may increase consumer insolvency and reflects the malfunctioning of markets, especially for small amounts of credit.  In others, the absence of such regulations is justified primarily on the basis that caps would reduce access to credit, especially for people with moderate means. The concept of “usury”, “extortionate pricing” in credit or “unfair credit” is mostly linked to the interest rate charged and to the exploitation of the borrower. In some Member States, it may be used more indirectly in the context of criminal lending (Italy, Malta, Estonia, Denmark), anatocism (Romania. Luxembourg) or it may simply be applied to high-priced loans (Portugal, France, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ireland, the UK and in German case law).