EU legislators move ahead on Digital Markets and Services Acts

The Council of the EU is closing in on the adoption of its general approaches for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act. Member States are expected to adopt the Council’s positions on these two pieces of legislation to engage in negotiations with the European Parliament during the Competitiveness Council of 25 November.

HOTREC has reached out to EU Member State representatives to request a ban on the imposition of narrow price parity clauses by digital gatekeepers, which undermine the hotel sector’s capacity to digitalise, under Article 5b of the Digital Markets Act. By contrast, there appears to be a consensus in the European Parliament to ban these clauses, with corresponding amendments adopted in the European Parliament Opinions of the ITRE, ECON, JURI, TRAN and CULT Committees.

All eyes are now turned towards the adoption of compromise amendments between European Parliament IMCO rapporteurs on both files. Discussions regarding a ban on targeting advertising are holding up a vote on the Digital Services Act, while the criteria for the identification of digital gatekeepers is a key sticking point for progress towards a vote on the Digital Markets Act. On this latter point, HOTREC has underlined the importance of designating gatekeepers offering only one core platform service in order to capture dominant online marketplaces for accommodation bookings. The European Parliament is expected to adopt its position on both legislative files by the end of 2021.