INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW online marketplaces in the UCPD should, in various ways, contribute to increased transparency of the online market. All UCPD provisions on unfair business practices apply to operators of online marketplaces who, in accordance with the UCPD, are considered as traders, and their acting is considered as commercial practice under the UCPD.63 The providers of online marketplaces on which the consumers conclude distance contracts, have all the obligations arising for traders according to the UCPD, including the obligations to inform which are of particular importance for fair commercial practices. When it comes to business practices taking place on online marketplaces, consumers are offered a twofold protection which may contribute to their being better informed. On the one hand, they are protected in their relationships with the providers of online marketplaces regarding their own commercial practices when offering services on online marketplaces. This protection is provided with regard to previously regulated unfair commercial practices, as well as with regard to new business practices typical for online marketplaces. On the other hand, consumers continue to be protected against business practices of third parties who, as traders, use online marketplaces for the promotion and placement of their products and services and who, at the end of the day, enter into contracts on tourism services with consumers.64 By the extension of the scope of the UCPD to online marketplaces, the application of this Directive does not exclude traders who offer their products and services on online marketplaces. In the context of tourism services offered via online marketplaces, this means that the rules on the prohibition of unfair commercial practices, including the rules on the prohibition of false information, or misleading omission of information, apply both to the providers of online marketplaces and to commercial providers of tourist services. The UCPD rules on consumer protection against unfair business practices on online marketplaces, connected with nontransparent information on the part of the provider, apply regardless of who is the third party with whom a consumer enters into a distance contract on the online marketplace (trader or another consumer). It arises from the definition of ‘online marketplace’ referred to in 63 See Duinvenvoorde, B. (2022), p.47; Narciso, M. (2022b) p. 148. 64 See Narciso, M. (2022b) p. 150. See Guidance on the interpretation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC, 2021, p. 87. Therefore, platforms should design their interfaces in the way which will enable traders, as third parties, to inform consumers in line with the UCPD requirements and other EU rules on informing consumers. See Guidance on the interpretation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC, 2021, p. 89; see ibid, p.149.
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