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Document 52024AT40735(02)
Summary of Commission Decision of 17 January 2024 relating to a proceeding under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Case AT.40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain) (notified under document number C(2024) 135 final)
Summary of Commission Decision of 17 January 2024 relating to a proceeding under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Case AT.40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain) (notified under document number C(2024) 135 final)
Summary of Commission Decision of 17 January 2024 relating to a proceeding under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Case AT.40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain) (notified under document number C(2024) 135 final)
C/2024/135
OJ C, C/2024/2269, 22.3.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2269/oj (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
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Official Journal |
EN Series C |
C/2024/2269 |
22.3.2024 |
Summary of Commission Decision
of 17 January 2024
relating to a proceeding under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
(Case AT.40735 – Online rail ticket distribution in Spain)
(notified under document number C(2024) 135 final)
(Only the English text is authentic)
(C/2024/2269)
On 17 January 2024, the Commission adopted a decision relating to a proceeding under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In accordance with the provisions of Article 30 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (1) , the Commission herewith publishes the names of the parties and the main content of the decision, including any penalties imposed, having regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business secrets.
1. INTRODUCTION
(1) |
The Decision makes legally binding the commitments offered by Renfe- Operadora, E.P.E. and Renfe Viajeros, S.M.E., S.A. (hereinafter referred together as ‘Renfe’) under Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (‘Regulation 1/2003’) in a proceeding under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘the Treaty’). |
2. PROCEDURE
(2) |
On 28 April 2023 the Commission opened proceedings with a view to taking a decision under Chapter III of Regulation 1/2003 and adopted a Preliminary Assessment which set out the Commission’s preliminary competition concerns. |
(3) |
Renfe did not agree with the Commission’s Preliminary Assessment and findings. Nevertheless, on 30 May 2023, Renfe submitted draft commitments (‘the Initial Commitments’) to the Commission in response to the Preliminary Assessment. |
(4) |
On 27 June 2023, a notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union pursuant to Article 27(4) of Regulation 1/2003, summarising the case and the Initial Commitments and inviting interested third parties to give their observations on the Initial Commitments until 8 August 2023. |
(5) |
On 29 September 2023, the Commission informed Renfe of the observations received from interested third parties following the publication of the notice. On 23 November 2023, Renfe submitted an amended proposal for commitments (‘the Final Commitments’). |
(6) |
On 20 December 2023 the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions was consulted and issued a favourable opinion. |
(7) |
On 21 December 2023 the Hearing Officer issued his final report. |
3. THE COMMISSION’S COMPETITION CONCERNS
(8) |
Renfe is the Spanish state-owned rail incumbent operator. |
(9) |
In the Preliminary Assessment, the Commission came to the preliminary conclusion that 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 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 (2). |
(10) |
The Commission expressed its preliminary concerns that Renfe may have abused its dominant position in the upstream market by refusing to supply its full range of tickets, discounts and functionalities (‘Content’) and its full real-time data (‘RTD’) displayed on its own online distribution channels to Third-party Ticketing Platforms active in Spain. Such refusal to supply may have impeded Third-party Ticketing Platforms’ ability to create their own product, to innovate, and to exercise effective competition on the downstream market for online rail ticketing services in Spain. |
4. THE INITIAL COMMITMENTS, THE MARKET TEST AND THE FINAL COMMITMENTS
(11) |
The Initial Commitments offered by Renfe can be summarised as follows:
|
(12) |
Respondents to the market test welcomed the general aim of the Initial Commitments, which would grant parity of access to Renfe Content and RTD between Third-party Ticketing Platforms and Renfe’s own digital distribution channels. However, they also identified certain clauses that would need to be modified to meet this aim, mainly relating to the scope of the Commitments, to access and distribution fees, to L2B, and to MER. |
(13) |
In response to these observations, Renfe submitted the Final Commitments, with the following key improvements:
|
5. CONCLUSION
(14) |
The Commission considers that the Final Commitments effectively meet the competition concerns identified in its Preliminary Assessment without being disproportionate. In reaching this conclusion, the Commission has taken into consideration the interests of third parties, including those that have responded to the market test. |
(1) OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 411/2004 (OJ L 68, 6.3.2004, p. 1).
(2) Ticketing platforms are undertakings that provide ticketing for rail travel 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.
(3) VAV is the specific Application Programming Interface (API) developed by Renfe to give access to its Content and RTD to Third-party Ticketing Platforms and to dōcō.
(4) The Unavailability Rate is the ratio between the number of minutes between 06:00 and 23:00 during which the sum of Renfe’s ticket sales through all channels is zero and the total number of minutes between 06:00 and 23:00.
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2269/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)