according to the special provisions of the European consumer protection laws as incorporated into the national laws from the relevant European Directive120. The special legal (contractual) link between the customer and the platform on the one hand121 and between the restaurant and the platform on the other hand122 could not be legally characterized or classified123 without taking into consideration the new conditions emerging from the rapid development of technology, particularly the internet and digitization in the tourism sector, which have created and consolidated the sharing economy and the platform on online marketplaces”], according to which “(1) Before a consumer is bound by a distance contract, or any corresponding offer, on an online marketplace, the provider of the online marketplace shall, without prejudice to Directive 2005/29/EC, provide the consumer with the following information in a clear and comprehensible manner and in a way appropriate to the means of distance communication: (a) …; (b) …; (c) …; (d) … (2) Without prejudice to Directive 2000/31/EC, this Article does not prevent Member States from imposing additional information requirements for providers of online marketplaces. Such provisions shall be proportionate, non-discriminatory and justified on grounds of consumer protection”. 120 Consolidated especially in Greek legal order by the Law Nr. 2251/1994 (Government Gazette, issue Α΄ 191/16.11.1994) as amended (in the years 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007) and especially in the recent years (2022, 2023, 2024). Cf. infra n. 185. 121 The relationship between the platform and the customer is analyzed as a B2C one. In this case, it could be strongly supported that there is a binding legal framework under the contractual type of a mandate contract (supra n. 5) or of brokerage contract (supra n. 6). Further reference could be made to the management of customers` personal data by these platforms, as well as to the customers` evaluations of the platforms through which the reservation was made and the catering contract was subsequently fulfilled in terms of the quality of restaurant catering services. 122 The relationship between the platform and the customer is analyzed as a B2B one. The question therefore arises as to whether the platform acts as a legal representative for the restaurant (represented party) in drawing up and concluding the catering contract with the customer. See Regulation 2019/1150/EU, applicable to (platforms that constitute) information society service providers in accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/1535, which provide ‘online intermediation services’ or ‘online search engines’, i.e., they mediate transactions in products and services between professionals (‘business users’ and ‘corporate website users’) and consumers. The classification of the platform as a ‘broker’ or an ‘agent’ to the restauranteur at the stage of concluding of the contract (as legal representative) and/or as a ‘vicar’ to the restauranteur at the stage of the performance, could be eventually examined in analogy to the provisions of the travel contract and especially the legal relationship between the organizer of the travel and the tourism services provider, see Directive (EU) 2015/2302, supra n. 22 (ELI: http:// data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2015/2302/oj). 123 In analysing the legal framework and classifying each one of the three-sides contractual relationship between the booking platform, the restaurant and the customer, from which the first is a business transaction (B2B) and the second a consumer transaction (B2C), one has to consider all the contractual forms of nominate contracts before examining the innominate or the mixed ones. As ‘strongest candidates’ after a legal assessment could be described, namely the following contractual types: brokerage contract, salaried mandate contract, contract for services, contract for the conduct of business, project contract etc. 88 APOSTOLOS TASSIKAS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==