Parity Clauses and Competition Law in Digital Marketplaces: The Case of Online Hotel Booking

• One of the key concerns of competition authorities is the use by online platforms of some forms of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clauses (also known as parity clauses), together with the adoption of the agency model. • From recent investigations by several Member States on online travel agencies (OTAs) there emerges a general view in the EU that agreements including MFN clauses in their wide form violate competition law, whereas there is no unanimous approach to the narrow version of the same clauses. • The application of Article 101 TFEU to these cases and the use of commitments decisions by many NCAs raise controversial questions