290 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM circumventions. A cease and desist order can, therefore, always be extended to similar offences. However, the same could not be applied in competition law as cease and desist orders significantly limit the concerned company’s commercial freedom. As a result, cease and desist orders in competition law have to stick to the particular restrictive practice applied by the defendant. For the same reason, other than in unfair commercial practices law, there were no purely preventative cease and desist orders in competition law. As the findings of the Restrictive Practices Court only related to the GRZ- -FRA route, there was no basis for a general cease and desist orders applying to other routes. In this regard, the Supreme Court, while upholding the cease and desist order for the GRZ-FRA route, referred the matter back to the Restrictive Practices Court as to take evidence about other routes to be specified by the claimant. The Supreme Court acknowledged that the implementation of the cease and desist order required cooperation with the GDS, and so, it could not be effected by LH alone; for that reason, the Supreme Court granted an implementation period of six months to comply with the cease and desist order. 5. ANALYSIS For a long time, travel agencies were used to receive a commission from the air carrier for the sale of flight tickets. Therefore, it is more than understandable that, after these commissions have vanished, the travel agencies try to – at least – fight against being charged with additional fees for using a GDS for their ticket sales. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court emphasised the principle of prizing freedom as inter alia provided for in Article 22 of Regulation (EC) No. 1008/2008. It does not matter, therefore, whether these fees are only cost-covering, give that there is no abuse in charging them, as long as they are not excessive – which was not the case, according to the Restrictive Practices Court’s findings. Notwithstanding, it seems quite evident that fees like the DCC create a disparity between ticket sales through travel agencies and direct sales by the air carrier. The option of a travel agency to use the carrier’s direct sales booking portal instead of the GDS to avoid the additional charges applying to the latter cannot be regarded as an attractive one, for it basically puts the travel agency on the same level as a consumer. It has been the travel agent’s expertise in using the
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