574 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM of renewal of the travel distribution market, with the so-called New Distribution Capability (NDC). The NDC’s purpose was to consolidate airline information and content in the same ‘format’, which is why IATA itself specified, on several occasions, as a ‘standard’ in XML language (Internet language), where such standardisation would enable a better and easier distribution through travel agencies, airline tickets, airline services, where, until that moment, one could only find and make available individually by each airline, on their own formats. Given the ambiguity generated by the new project, on legal issues, presented by the travel agencies’ market, which directly involved the analysis of anti- -competitiveness and data security, the NDC passed to a first sieve of a responsible body, namely United States Department of Transportation (DOT). Then, after receiving several arguments, conflicting positions, in particular of travel agencies, IATA’s project was approved with some exceptions to develop also on American soil, directly involving airlines of that country. By then, the NDC was being applied in several countries around the globe, with integration and testing by several airlines, but still not satisfactory as content, as reported by representatives of travel agencies around the world. Thus, information and positions of the travel agencies’ leading and largest representative entities in the world, regarding the NDC, will be transmitted in the present work. Finally, a legal analysis will be present, with a focus on the Brazilian antitrust legislation. The NDC needs only to be attentive to its goals in order to avoid weaknesses, as well as to prevent some behaviours that may be considered as anti-competitive and, therefore, illegal. 2. DEVELOPMENT 2.1. What is the NDC? IATA, an association that assists in the conduct and business of airlines, created, many years ago, a payment processing system designed to enable the activities of an airline in several the World Bank countries at the same time. The Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), as it is called, was created to facilitate and simplify the sale and remittance procedures, as well as numerous other programs, studies, working groups that are developed and conducted by IATA, which was aiming at improving the air transportation of passengers and cargo, throughout the world.
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