MODERNISATION OF INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSUMERS marketplaces when entering into B2C distance contracts, or for the providers of online intermediate services within the framework of business relations with the users of their services. There is a whole range of various rules laid down in numerous EU acts.42 It is doubtful, however, whether the application of general information requirements, valid for all distance consumer contracts, can meet very high transparency standards on which any efficient protection of consumers on the online tourism services market strongly depends. Due to a decisive impact of rankings and reviews on the selection of tourism services, a question arises whether the rules, now generally providing for the obligation of informing about the parameters determining ranking and the responsibility of platforms for illicit content, can ensure a fair online environment and the provision of objective, transparent and reliable information in the sector of tourism. In the text, the author analyses various methods and legal instruments by which transparent information of consumers in the EU is provided via the existing platforms on the online tourism services market. Special emphasis is placed on the modernisation of EU rules on the new information requirements for distance consumer contracts laid down in the Omnibus Directive43 of 2019 amending the Unfair Commercial Practice Directive (hereinafter: the UCPD)44 and the Consumer Rights Directive (hereinafter: the CRD).45 Most amendments are dealing precisely with the harmonisation of the Union consumer protection law with the continuous development of digital tools. The rules on unfair commercial practices and those on the protection of consumers entering into distance contracts have been modernised. The obligation of transparent information provided for consumers is also extended to the providers of online marketplaces through which traders and consumers are offered products on online markets.46 The Omnibus Directive defines an online marketplace as “service using software, including a website, part of a website or an application, 42 Since service providers offering information are involved, general rules on information requirements in Directive on Electronic Commerce (e.g. Arts 5, 6, 14, 15) and on the provider’s in Services Directive (e.g. Art. 22) apply to information duties of online platforms. To the relations between online intermediation platforms and the business users’ information duties, the rules on information duties from P2B Regulation apply (e.g. Art..5.) To the relations between online marketplaces and consumers, special provisions on information duties laid down in Consumer Rights Directive/CRD (e.g. Art. 6a) and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive/UCPD (e.g. Arts 7/4a, 7/6, Annex I/p.11a, p. 23 a-c apply). 43 Directive (EU) 2019/2161 as regards better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules, (hereinafter: Omnibus Directive). 44 See Art. 3, Omnibus Directive. 45 See Art. 4, Omnibus Directive. 46 See recitals 17-28, Omnibus Directive.
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