[tsimionescu]

Those are common in all of Europe, and they are still based on either biometrics (if using your phone) or the card's chip. They do typically include a transaction value and count limit below which the biometrics or pin don't actually get checked, for ease of use. But, given that this limit is controlled by the user, I expect that the contract terms also prevent you from disputing transactions below those limits - though I haven't read carefully enough to be sure.

[ndsipa_pomu]

I don't think I can control the contactless limit on any of my cards (I'm in the UK). Occasionally, the contactless device will prompt to enter a pin, but it happens fairly rarely (probably more common if the payment is at a new location).

I also haven't examined the various contracts, but I'd be surprised if there was no option to dispute transactions below a certain limit as that could be exploited by banks or thieves (but I repeat myself) or shops. An unscrupulous shop could double up transactions or change the amount paid and customers would not be happy if the bank turned round and said "it's below the £50 limit, so we don't care". The bank is more likely to push the problem onto the retailer and simply refund the customer and charge the retailer.

Personally, I don't like contactless due to the change of responsibility between the customer and bank and prefer to use PINs. As far as I know, I can't get just a PIN card as they all have contactless enabled.