The European Commission has opened three investigations to assess whether online sales practices prevent consumers from enjoying cross-border choice and from buying consumer electronics, video games and hotel accommodation at competitive prices.
The main issues pursued by the investigations are retail price restrictions, discrimination on the basisoflocation and geo-blocking. Undercertain circumstances, such practices mayhinder cross-border shopping online and ultimately harm consumers by preventing them from enjoying greater choice and lower prices in e-commerce. This type of practices may be in breach of article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
With regards to consumer electronics manufacturers, the Commission is investigating Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer. In particular, the Commission is assessing whether these companies have infringed EU Competition Law by restricting the ability of online retailers to set their own prices for widely used consumer electronics products (e.g. household appliances, notebooks and hi-fi products). The Commission has started this investigation on its own initiative.
In the video games sector, the investigation concerns bilateral agreements concluded between Valve Corporation, owner of the Steam game distribution platform, and five PC video game publishers: Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax. Concretely, the Commission is analyzing geo-blocking practices, which prevent consumers from purchasing digital content becauseoftheirlocation or country ofresidence. In some cases,these practices may violate EU Competition Law, for example, by reducing cross-border competition as a result of restrictions on parallel trade within the EU internal market or by preventing consumers from buying cheaper games that may be available in other Member States. This investigation has also been started on the Commission’s own initiative.
Finally, as a result of customers’ complaints, the Commission has engaged in an investigation on hotel price discrimination. In particular, the Commission is analyzing hotel accommodation agreements entered into by the largest European tour operators (Kuoni, REWE, Thomas Cook, TUI) and hotels (Meliá Hotels). These agreements may contain clauses that discriminate on the basis of nationality or country of residence, resulting in customers not being able to see the full hotel availability or to book hotel rooms at the best prices. Such agreements can amount to partitioning of the EU internal market and, consequently, constitute a breach of EU Competition Law.
There is no legal deadline for the Commission to conclude these investigations. The duration will depend, inter alia, on the complexity of the case, the cooperation of the companies with the Commission and the exercise of the rights of defense.
