EU competition rules – Public Consultation on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the revision of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and accompanying Vertical Guidelines. This consultation is part of the on-going review process which was initiated in October 2018 with a view to having revised rules in place when the current rules expire in May 2022.
The revision of the VBER and related guidelines represents an important opportunity in relation to the fight against MFN/parity clauses. The online questionnaire for the public consultation is available here and more information about the review process can be found here.
More information on the initiative is available in this memo developed by HOTREC:
Next steps
HOTREC will share a draft response to the public consultation in due time, providing Members with sufficient time to provide feedback ahead of the public consultation deadline set on 26 March 2021.
In the meantime, in order to ensure that the HOTREC submission fully reflects the views of Members is fully up to date, we would welcome general feedback on the consultation as well as responses to the following questions by Friday 19 February 2021:
- In addition to the issues outlined under point 3 of this memo, are there any other issues HOTREC should raise in its response to the public consultation?
- Bearing in mind that some EU Member States have already banned narrow price parity/MFN clauses under national law (France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, process underway in Switzerland), should any specific elements be considered by HOTREC in order to ensure that existing bans under national law are not undermined by a revised VBER?
- Would you have any statistical or economic evidence that shows that narrow price parity clauses imposed by OTAs on hoteliers undermine competition and/or consumer choice?