IMCO Committee adopts Digital Markets Act (DMA) report

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) adopted this morning (23 November 2021) by 42 votes in favour, two against and one abstention its position on the  Digital Markets Act  (DMA) proposal, which sets rules on what companies with "gatekeeper" status will be allowed  to do  and  not to do  in the EU.

HOTREC can be pleased with the outcome of the vote and the improvements made by the IMCO Committee. Amendments adopted by the Committee give confirmation that Booking.com would count among the so-called 'designated gatekeeper' platforms to which DMA requirements would apply. According to some observers, the new rules may also apply to Airbnb. Establishing crietria for the designation of gatekeepers has been an outstanding point of dissension throughout the parliamentary procedure, with rapporteur MEP Andreas Schwab pushing for criteria which would have excluded Booking.com from the 'gatekeeper status'.

Additional improvements to the European Commission's original proposal include:

• Article 5b: gatekeepers cannot impose narrow price parity clauses
• Article 6i: Ensures better access to gatekeeper data for business users
• Annex I: Calculate the number of end users’ based on a set of large criteria (for example through actively logging-in, making a visit, making a query, clicking or scrolling or concluded a transaction through the online intermediation service at least once in the month)
• Article 2 and Recital: Inclusion of in-app payment services as part of additional criteria to assess a gatekeeper position.

The DMA file is due to be voted on in the European Parliament plenary session in December 2021. The approved text will then become Parliament's mandate for negotiations with EU governments, planned to start under the French presidency of the Council in the first semester of 2022.