Russia: Ruling reached regarding Booking.com for abuse of dominance regarding price parity clauses

On 21 December 2020, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) ruled, that Booking.com had violated antitrust rules. Specifically, clause 3 of part 1 of article 10 of the Law on the Protection of Competition was violated, the FAS states. The investigation was originally opened on 31 December 2019 after the public organization Opora Rossii made a complaint about Booking.com with the agency earlier that year. With today's ruling, the FAS orders Booking.com to refrain from applying unfavourable price parity obligations in contracts with hotels and hostels, as they represent an abuse of the dominance that Booking.com holds in the market. Booking.com has until February 2021 to stop implementing unfavourable contractual clauses with Russian hotels and hostels.