Online platforms may have to rethink their parity deals

There were many interesting developments in the antitrust space last year, including two reports by a parliamentary panel—one on proposed amendments to the Indian competition law, and the other on a new Digital Competition Act to regulate anti-competitive practices of digital gatekeepers. Retail MFN clauses are broadly of two types: Wide MFN clauses, restricting better terms on the seller’s own website and any other sales platform; and Narrow MFN clauses, restricting better terms only on the seller’s own website. Several European countries like France, Austria and Italy now have specific legal provisions to generally prohibit MFN clauses in the online hotel booking space. The CCI examined the “combined effect” of retail MFN clauses with MMT’s deep discounting strategies. It may not be possible to draw general conclusions on narrow MFN clauses as compared to wide ones, as their effects could vary with the characteristics of different markets.