Digital Competition Law Compliance: Online Selling Practices under the Spotlight
What do consumer electronics, video games and hotel accommodation have in common?
The answer is that all three of these sectors are currently under investigation for suspected breaches of EU competition law as it applies to digital sales (‘e-commerce’). Crucially, the competition law rules being enforced have much wider application across any industry that sells online.
In February 2017, the European Commission announced the launch of three new competition law investigations into online selling practices, each linked to the use of new technology. Two of these cases follow up on competition concerns that came to light during the Commission’s e-commerce sector inquiry, where the regulator’s full findings are due out in the first half of 2017
Consumer electronics - Resale Price Maintenance Video games - Geo-blocking Reducing cross-border competition by restricting ‘parallel trade’ within the single market; and Preventing consumers from purchasing cheaper games available in other Member States.Hotel accommodation - Price discrimination by location
Comment Andrew Maxwell.
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