EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

Prague, Czechia

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

competitive concerns. Instead, from an economic viewpoint, this concentration reflects an efficient market structure, which is essentially the result of the presence of favourable indirect network effects. Any misuse of a dominant market position in P2P services, on the other hand, is likely to be completely covered by current competition legislation (Miskolczi-Bodnár and Szuchy, 2017, pp. 85–109). It is debatable whether a new rule should be enacted. From the standpoint of competition policy, such a transfer of ratings from one platform service to another is essentially desirable, since it might lower possible switching costs and facilitate platform switching, particularly for providers of P2P services. However, it should be noted that, on the one hand, a transfer of the ratings received could be problematic from a data protection point of view if the users who submitted the rating have not given their consent for such a transfer (Wen and Feng. 2019, pp. 1336–1367; Karácsony, 2019, pp. 39–50.). In this case, the question of who owns the reviews emerges. Peer-to-peer service rating systems, on the other hand, may take a different approach. In this regard, it is vital to assess how similar specific P2P service ratings are, as well as whether a correct transfer across rating systems is possible. 4. Intermediary services for private accommodation The sharing economy’s intermediary platforms for private accommodation are a fascinating and hotly debated topic (Schor, 2020). Private individuals can use these platform services to quickly and easily market their own apartment or individual rooms to potential visitors via the Internet. This short-term rental can, in theory, be done for a price or for free. Platform providers frequently charge a fee for their intermediary services, which is paid by landlords, potential guests, or both categories of users. Some of them also provide supplementary services, such as payment processing. Private home short-term rentals have long been an important aspect of the hotel industry. This occupation has grown in popularity in recent years as a result of the ability to rent out rooms through digital intermediary platforms (Schweitzer and Welker, 2019, pp. 16–24). Although short-term private housing leasing is becoming more popular, it is not without controversy. While private landlords gain from this growth, the hotel industry complains about competitive distortions caused by inconsistency in legislation. From a competitive viewpoint, the more intense competition in the lodging sector is generally considered as advantageous. At the same time, it’s vital to ensure that individual suppliers compete fairly and that market distortions are kept to a minimum (Klimek, 2013, pp. 105–121). 4.1 Differentiation between private and commercial offers One crucial topic to consider when renting private housing through platforms is whether some or all of this activity should be classified as commercial, and if so, what limitations apply. When determining the corresponding rental offers,

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