Following the formal investigation opened on 28 April 2023, on 26 June 2023 the Commission invited stakeholders to submit their comments on the commitments offered by Renfe to address competition concerns over having abused its dominant position by refusing to supply all its content and real-time data to rival ticketing platforms.

Renfe sells its tickets offline and online either directly via its websites and apps and mobility platform or indirectly through third-party ticketing platforms, which display offers from different rail carriers and provide customers with different services. According to the Commission, however, Renfe may have restricted competition in the Spanish market for online rail ticketing services by refusing to provide third-party ticketing platforms with full content concerning its range of tickets, discounts and features and real-time data related to its passenger rail transport services, thereby breaching Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). 

To address the Commission’s concerns, therefore, Renfe has offered to i) make availableto third-party platforms all the current and future content and real-time datadisplayed on any of its own online channels, ii) make available all its current content or real-time data by, at the latest, 29 February 2024, iii) inform third-party ticketing platforms at the same time as its own platform about, on the one hand, its decision to include any new content or real-time data at least 4 months in advance and, on the other hand, technical specifications at least 1 or 2 months in advance, and iv) require third-party ticketing platforms a maximum monthly average Look-to-Book ratio of no less than 140 and not exceed a maximum Error Rate of 14.23%. The commitments would remain in force for an indefinite period, and their implementation will be monitored by a trustee appointed by Renfe who will report to the Commission for a period of 10 years.

Stakeholders will now have six weeks from the publication of a summary of the proposed commitments in the Official Journal to submit their views, which will be then examined by the Commission.

Marco Stillo