Appraisal of the National Commission on the Markets and Competition (CNMC)’s sanction on Booking
06/09/2024
Appraisal of the National Commission on the Markets and Competition (CNMC)’s sanction on Booking
Flash informativos
At Lener, we have chosen to analyse the recent sanction imposed on BOOKING.COM B.V. (BOOKING) the National Commission on the Markets and Competition (CNMC) due to abuse of its market dominance. The ruling entails the largest fine ever issued in the CNMC’s history.
On 16 April and 18 June 2021, separate claims were filed before the CNMC, respectively lodged by the SPANISH HOTEL MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION and the ENTREPRENEURIAL HOTELIERS’ ASSOCIATION OF MADRID in which it was outlined that certain anti-competition practices had been embarked upon by BOOKING in the Spanish accommodation booking market, and which might give grounds for the issuance of breaches of Law 15/2007, passed on 3 July, on the Anti-Trust Law (Defensa de la Competencia (LDC)) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Tratado de Funcionamiento de la Unión Europea (TFUE)).
Following the complete procedural admission of the corresponding infringement proceeding on 29 July 2024, (published the next day) the Anti-Trust Chamber of the CNMC issued a ruling sanctioning BOOKING, as the latter viewed the two sole and continued infractions to be in breach of Articles 2 of the LDC and 102 of the TFUE consistent with abuse of a position of market dominance of an exploitative nature, alongside a further charge of abuse of a position of market dominance of an exclusionary nature running from at least 1 January 2019 up to the present day (the reference period).
In the following document, we provide the following breakdown:
- What do these breaches entail?
- How has this approached embarked upon by BOOKING affected hotels in Spain?
- How much could be claimed and how?
- Which sanctions have been imposed upon BOOKING?
- Has BOOKING itself made any comments regarding the CNMC ruling?
