International Journal of Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Law 2023

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW abuse. The proposal also gives the Commission extensive enforcement tools.29 If a gatekeeper violates the rules laid down in the Digital Markets Act, it risks a fine of up to 10% of its total worldwide turnover. For a repeat offence, a fine of up to 20% of its worldwide turnover may be imposed (Article 30). 4 ONLINE BOOKING SERVICES AS DIGITAL GATEKEEPERS 4.1 The definition of digital gatekeepers One of the key points of contention of the Digital Markets Act was how to define a gatekeeper, which will determine which online platforms are covered by this term and will have to comply with the corresponding obligations. A gatekeeper must be a de -facto digital market bottleneck, which EU businesses and consumers find hard to avoid. Article 3 first defines qualitative and quantitative criteria that a gatekeeper must meet cumulatively. An undertaking can be designated as a gatekeeper if it has a significant impact on the internal market. This criterion is presumed to be satisfied where the undertaking achieves an annual Union turnover equal to or above EUR 7,5 billion in each of the last three financial years, or where its average market capitalisation or its equivalent fair market value amounted to at least EUR 75 billion in the last financial year (both financial thresholds are higher than in the Commission’s initial proposal), and it provides the same core platform service in at least three Member States. The second criterion is that a gatekeeper provides a core platform service which is an important gateway for business users to reach end users. The core platform services list includes online intermediation services, online search engines, online social networking services, video-sharing platform services, number-independent interpersonal communication services, operating systems, cloud computing services, advertising services provided by a provider of any of the services listed before. The core platform service is considered an important gateway if it had at least 45 million monthly active end users established or located in the Union in the last financial year and at least 10 000 yearly active business users. If the conditions relating to the numbers of active users are met in each of the last three financial years, the platform is presumed to satisfy also the third 29 Quinn, 2021, p. 3.

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