Competition Law in Tourism

564 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM obtained through CRS would be fair and transparent. This has been replaced by the Council Regulation (EEC) No 3089/93 of 29 October 1993, amending Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89, on a code of conduct for computerised reservation systems. Under this regulation, the European legislator reinforced non-discriminatory obligations on parent carriers as well as on system vendors. This Regulation was implicitly repealed by Regulation (EC) No 80/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January 2009 regarding a Code of Conduct for computerised reservation systems and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89. Currently, under the code implemented by this last regulation, CRS vendors shall: • not attach unfair and/or unjustified conditions to any contract with a participating carrier or require the acceptance of supplementary conditions which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the participation in its CRS; • not make it a condition of participation in its CRS that a participating carrier may not at the same time be a participant in another system or that a participating carrier may not freely use alternative reservation systems such as its own Internet booking system and call centres; • publicly disclose, unless this is otherwise made public, the existence and extent of a direct or indirect capital holding of an air carrier or rail-transport operator in a system vendor or of a system vendor in an air carrier or rail- -transport operator; • not reserve any specific loading and/or processing procedure, any other distribution facility or any changes to these, for one or more participating carriers, including its parent carrier(s); and • provide a principal display or displays for each individual transaction through its CRS and shall include therein the data provided by participating carriers in a neutral and comprehensive manner and without discrimination or bias. The Regulation also sets out obligations supported by the carriers, as well as personal data considerations. Penalties can also be levied in case of infringement of the code by the European commission. This regulation is still in force and the code of conduct applies to all CRS (as well as GDS) in use or available in Europe.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==