NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - MasterCard International announced Thursday that the company is extending its zero liability policy to MasterCard BusinessCard and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cards.

With zero liability protection, small business owners and their employees will not be held liable by card issuers in the event of an unauthorized use of their credit cards in a store, over the telephone or online, according to the credit-card company.

"As the first to extend zero liability protection to small business debit and credit cards, MasterCard is giving small business owners peace of mind so they can focus on growing their businesses," Bruno Perreault, Group Head, Global Small Business and Mid-Sized Enterprises, MasterCard International, said in a statement.

MasterCard's extended zero liability protection goes into effect on September 1, 2006 for all U.S.-issued MasterCard BusinessCard and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cards.

MasterCard cardholders must meet certain conditions to qualify for zero liability protection, including having exercised reasonable care in safeguarding their cards and notifying their issuing bank of the loss, theft and/or unauthorized use of their cards, the company said.

MasterCard established a U.S. rule of zero liability for the consumer from the unauthorized use of payment cards in 1994.

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