Russia: Russian court rejected booking.com appeal regarding Federal Antimonopoly Service ruling on the company’s abuse of dominance

On 11 November 2021, the Russian Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal dismissed the Booking.com appeal against the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court (MAC). On 30 August 2021, the MAC had ruled that the Federal Antimonopoly Service's (FAS) decision that Booking.com had violated anti-monopoly laws, specifically clause 3 of part 1 of article 10 of the Law on the Protection of Competition, was legal. Previously, FAS ruled that Booking.com had violated antitrust rules by applying unfavourable price parity obligations in contracts with hotels and hostels and abused its dominant position in the market. Due to the company's noncompliance with the FAS order, the company was fined 1.3 billion rubles for continuing to abuse its dominant position in the Russian market.