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Document 52023XC0627(01)
Communication from the Commission published pursuant to Article 27(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in Case AT. 40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain 2023/C 224/01
Communication from the Commission published pursuant to Article 27(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in Case AT. 40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain 2023/C 224/01
Communication from the Commission published pursuant to Article 27(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in Case AT. 40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain 2023/C 224/01
OJ C 224, 27.6.2023, p. 1–3
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
27.6.2023 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 224/1 |
Communication from the Commission published pursuant to Article 27(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in Case AT. 40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain
(2023/C 224/01)
1. Introduction
(1) |
According to Article 9 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (1), the Commission may decide – in cases where it intends to adopt a decision requiring that an infringement is brought to an end and the parties concerned offer commitments to meet the concerns expressed to them by the Commission in its preliminary assessment – to make those commitments binding on the undertakings. Such a decision may be adopted for a specified period and shall conclude that there are no longer grounds for action by the Commission. According to Article 27(4) of the same Regulation, the Commission shall publish a concise summary of the case and the main content of the commitments. Interested parties may submit their observations within the time limit fixed by the Commission. |
2. Summary of the Case
(2) |
On 28 April 2023, the Commission initiated proceedings within the meaning of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 of 7 April 2004 against Renfe-Operadora, E.P.E and Renfe Viajeros, S.M.E., S.A. (hereinafter referred together as ‘Renfe’) concerning an alleged infringement of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’). On the same day, the Commission adopted a preliminary assessment within the meaning of Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003. |
(3) |
The preliminary assessment sets out the Commission’s concerns that Renfe may have abused its dominant position by refusing to supply all its content and real-time data to third-party ticketing platforms (2) active in Spain. Content refers to all types of tickets, discounts and functionalities (e.g., possibility to process customers’ reimbursement claims). Real-time data refers to information related to passenger rail transport services operated by Renfe, and it can be pre-journey (e.g., platform number), on-journey (e.g., disruptions) or post-journey (e.g., information on delays that is needed to submit a compensation claim). |
(4) |
According to the preliminary assessment, Renfe is dominant (i) in the upstream market for the provision of passenger rail transport services in Spain, where Renfe operates as a passenger rail carrier, and (ii) in the downstream market for the online distribution of passenger rail tickets in Spain, where Renfe operates via Renfe’s website, Renfe’s apps and Renfe’s mobility platform ‘dōcō’. In this downstream market, Renfe competes with third-party ticketing platforms (i.e., online travel agencies or travel management companies). |
(5) |
In the preliminary assessment, the Commission considered that Renfe may have abused its dominant position, in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty, by refusing to grant to third-party ticketing platforms the requested access to the full content and real-time data that are available on Renfe’s own online distribution channels, which may have impeded their ability to create their own product, to innovate, and to exercise effective competition on the downstream market for online rail ticketing services in Spain. |
3. The Main Content of the Offered Commitments
(6) |
Renfe does not acknowledge any infringement to competition law and disagrees with the preliminary concerns raised by the Commission in the Preliminary Assessment, but has nevertheless offered commitments pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, to meet the Commission’s competition concerns. |
(7) |
The key elements of the commitments offered by Renfe are as follows:
|
(8) |
The commitments are published in full in English on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition at:
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4. Invitation to make Comments
(9) |
Subject to market testing, the Commission intends to adopt a decision under Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 declaring binding the commitments summarised above and published on the Internet, on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, to be binding. |
(10) |
In accordance with Article 27(4) of Regulation 1/2003, the Commission invites interested third parties to submit their observations on the proposed commitments. These observations must reach the Commission not later than six weeks following the date of this publication. Interested third parties are also asked to submit a non-confidential version of their comments, in which any information they claim to be business secrets and other confidential information should be deleted and replaced as required by a non-confidential summary or by the words ’business secrets’ or ’confidential’. |
(11) |
Answers and comments should preferably be reasoned and should set out the relevant facts. If you identify a problem with any part of the proposed commitments, the Commission would also invite you to suggest a possible solution. |
(12) |
Observations can be sent to the Commission under reference number AT.40735 Online rail ticket distribution in Spain, either by e-mail (COMP-GREFFE-ANTITRUST@ec.europa.eu) or by post, to the following address:
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(1) OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1. With effect from 1 December 2009, Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty have become Articles 101 and, respectively, 102 of the TFEU. The two sets of provisions are in substance identical. For the purposes of this notice, references to Articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU should be understood as references to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty when applicable.
(2) Third-party ticketing platforms are defined in the offered commitments as any undertaking that distributes rail tickets to individual and/or corporate customers in the European Union through software application stores (e.g. Apple App Store or Google Play Store) or through a website. Undertakings not offering booking and payment functionalities to customers (i.e. metasearch redirecting customers to Renfe’s website) are not considered third-party ticketing platforms and are therefore not covered by the offered commitments.
(3) Renfe content and real time data are defined in Section A of the commitments.
(4) The Effective Date is the date upon which Renfe would receive formal notification of the Commitments Decision.
(5) The L2B ratio is the ratio between the number of queries (‘look’) related to the sale of tickets made to Renfe’s ticket sales system and the number of actual sales (‘book’) made during a given period of time.
(6) The Error Rate is the ratio between the number of failed reservation requests and the number of total reservation requests made to Renfe’s ticket sales system during a given period of time.