Hotel and travel booking service Booking may be forced to pay the equivalent of several billion kronor in fines in Spain at the same time as the EU's new Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation comes into force next month.
In 2022, the Spanish competition authority CNMC launched an investigation into whether the company was violating competition rules.
According to Booking, the company may now have to pay a fine of SEK 5.4 billion, which would be the largest fine ever demanded by the CNMC.
The company says in a statement that it is ”disappointed” by the CNMC's conclusions and ”strongly opposes” them.
”"We plan to appeal this unprecedented decision if it becomes reality.".
The booking giant, which is based in the Netherlands, dominates the online hotel booking market and is a subsidiary of the American Booking Holdings Group. Now the concern is that the European market will need to adapt to both national laws and the EU's overall new DMA rules, which aim to increase competition through, among other things, the threat of hefty fines for rule violations.
Booking says in its statement that the DMA is ”the right forum” to discuss the issues raised by the Spanish competition authority because this ”provides an opportunity to agree on solutions that can be applied throughout Europe” instead of each individual country having specific laws in the area.
Source: TT-DI.SE
