A hotel using the Booking.com platform can bring it before a court in the Member State in which it is established to stop a possible abuse of a dominant position, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Tuesday 24 November (Case C-59/19).
The German company Wikingerhof GmbH, which operates a hotel, concluded a contract in 2009 with the Booking.com BV accommodation booking platform located in the Netherlands. It challenges the inclusion of subsequent terms and conditions, arguing that it had no choice but to be affected by these changes because of Booking.com’s dominant position, even though certain practices of Booking.com are, in its view, unfair. For example, when searches are made, the positioning of the hotel depends on the granting of a commission exceeding 15% to the Dutch company.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled, after a reference from the German Federal Court of Justice, that the Brussels IA Regulation (1215/2012) on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters applies to an action for the cessation of certain conduct within the contractual relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant based on an alleged abuse of a dominant position by the defendant in breach of competition law.
In its view, moreover, Wikingerhof’s action, inasmuch as it is based on the legal obligation to refrain from any abuse of a dominant position, falls within the scope of matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict (Article 7 of the Regulation).
See judgment: https://bit.ly/36306ju (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)