The Competition Authority penalized Booking.com B.V. on the grounds of restricting competition...
The investigation conducted by the Competition Authority to determine whether the "best price guarantee" practice within the scope of the reservation service offered by Booking.com B.V. and by Bookingdotcom Destek Hizmetleri Limited Şirketi, which operates as its Turkey office, violated Articles 4 and 6 of Law No. 4054 has been completed.
Following the deliberation of the file by the Competition Board on 05.01.2017, it was decided that Booking.com B.V. violated Article 4 of Law No. 4054, and that for this reason an administrative fine should be imposed on the said undertaking pursuant to Article 16 of the same Law.
Accordingly;
1. It was decided unanimously that, due to the price and quota parity provisions and the best price guarantee practice provisions under examination in the contracts signed by BOOKING.COM with accommodation facilities, the contracts in question fall within the scope of Article 4 of Law No. 4054,
2. It was decided unanimously that the contracts examined within the scope of the investigation could not benefit from block exemption under Communiqué No. 2002/2 on Block Exemption for Vertical Agreements, due to exceeding the market share threshold stipulated in Article 2 of the said Communiqué, and that individual exemption could not be granted to the said contracts as they did not meet the conditions enumerated in Article 5 of Law No. 4054, and that for this reason the competition-restricting provisions in the contracts in question and the practices related to them constitute a violation within the meaning of Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition,
3. For this reason, pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 16 of Law No. 4054 and the provisions of subparagraph (b) of the first paragraph, the second paragraph, and subparagraph (a) of the third paragraph of Article 5 of the "Regulation on Fines to be Imposed in Cases of Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Restricting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position," based on the annual gross revenues generated at the end of the 2015 financial year and determined by the Board, at its discretion,
It was decided by majority vote that an administrative fine of 2,543,992.85 TL be imposed on Booking.com B.V.,
4. It was decided unanimously that, since Bookingdotcom Destek Hizmetleri Limited Şirketi had no decision-making role over the substance of the practices that were the subject of the investigation, it bore no responsibility with respect to the allegations under investigation, and that for this reason no administrative fine could be imposed on the said company.
