On Wednesday 17 January, the European Commission announced that it had accepted binding commitments proposed by the Spanish company Renfe to promote competition in online rail ticketing. Last April, the Commission opened an investigation (see EUROPE 13172/9), fearing that Renfe had abused its dominant position on the Spanish rail passenger transport market by refusing to share the content of its offers and real-time data on its rail passenger transport services with its competitors.
Renfe had proposed certain commitments to correct the situation (see EUROPE 13209/30). It amended these proposals after the Commission had consulted stakeholders.
Renfe will provide competing ticketing platforms with all current and future real-time content and data displayed on its online channels. It will make the current content and data available in real time by 29 February at the latest, with the exception of data for which access is linked to a tendering procedure.
Finally, Renfe undertakes to impose on third-party ticketing platforms only a maximum average monthly conversion rate, which will not be less than 600, 200 or 140, and not to exceed a maximum error rate of 4% from 2024 or a maximum monthly unavailability rate of 1% from 2025. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)