AFP Brussels

Brussels

Updated Friday, February 23, 2024-08:52

The Dutch hotel reservation platform

Booking.com

stated that it risks receiving a record fine in Spain, two weeks before the entry into force of the European law on digital markets (DMA).

The CNMC, the Spanish competition authority, launched an investigation in 2022 to determine whether the Dutch subsidiary of the American group

Booking Holdings

, which dominates the world of online hotel reservations, has committed anti-competitive practices.

This authority could impose a fine of 489 million euros ($530 million) on Booking.com, which would be, according to the company, the largest ever imposed by the competition authority.

"We are disappointed by the CNMC's draft decision and totally disagree with its conclusions," the company said in a statement, indicating its

"intention to appeal this unprecedented decision

, if it becomes final."

Booking.com uses this draft decision to express its fear of being fined at the national level, since it will also have to comply with the DMA, which applies at the European level.

The

Digital Markets Law

"is the appropriate forum to debate and evaluate the main concerns raised by the CNMC, providing the opportunity to agree on solutions that apply across Europe and not in individual countries," the company said in a statement.

The DMA seeks to increase competition through a series of measures that digital companies must comply with when it comes into force on March 7.

The platforms subject to the law are those that provide a service to more than 45 million monthly active users in the EU and more than 10,000 annual active business users established in the Union.

Digital companies with an annual EU turnover of at least

€7.5 billion

or a market value of more than €75 billion are also subject to these new restrictions.

The European Union has already designated six entities that must comply with the rules: Google's parent company,

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance

, which owns TikTok.

Twenty-two platforms are also targeted, including Amazon Marketplace, Apple App Store, Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Last year, the European Commission blocked Booking's bid to buy

eTraveli

, a smaller online travel agency, citing concerns about competition and fears that approval would lead to higher costs for consumers.