LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Visa and Mastercard ( MA ) can challenge a judgment that found their default multilateral interchange fees charged to retailers infringe competition law, London's Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday, in a long-running legal battle over the charges.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled last year, in linked lawsuits brought by hundreds of merchants, that Visa and Mastercard's ( MA ) multilateral interchange fees breached European competition law. 

The merchants' lawyers previously said that was the first time Visa and Mastercard's ( MA ) commercial card and inter-regional multilateral interchange fees had been found to infringe competition law.

But the Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal on Tuesday, in a decision welcomed by Mastercard ( MA ) and Visa.

The companies said in separate statements that interchange plays an important role in a digital payments ecosystem and provides benefits to consumers, businesses and banks.

Cian Mansfield, from law firm Scott+Scott, which represents the claimants, said: "We are confident that we will resist the application successfully at the substantive appeal".