On 12 June, ERA attended the third workshop organised by DG MOVE on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) Regulation and Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation (SDBTR). While the latter will focus on rail transport, platforms distributing air tickets will be included in the scope of the MDMS proposal.
During the workshop, the European Commission and the contractors supporting the study (Ricardo) presented and discussed the policy options which are currently being considered by the Commission for the format of the proposal. While it was confirmed that full-content obligations on airlines are out of scope, all the policy options contain obligations on MDMS to:
- Respect general rules including the neutral display of offers on MDMS platforms.
- Respect the obligation to fairly load and process data provided by operators.
- Respect the obligation to feedback marketing data to operators.
- Fairly treat their subscribers.
- Display information on GHG emissions of trips (where these data are provided by the operators).
- Share non-personal data for mobility management with authorities.
Consequently, several principles from the computerised reservation systems (CRS) Code of Conduct should be transposed in the future MDMS Regulation.
All policy options also all contain the appointment of enforcement bodies at national level to settle potential disputes.
However, the proposed policy options considered also contain several differences, and the European Commission is currently discussing whether it should adopt:
- An obligation for MDMS to respect the principles on distribution fees and not impose highly restrictive clauses (exclusivity clauses, marketing clauses and other technical restrictions) when entering into commercial agreements. This will either be applicable to all B2B and B2C MDMS or only to the ones with Significant Market Power (SMP).
- An obligation for all MDMS with SMP to enter into commercial agreements.
- An unbundling obligation for MDMS providers which are vertically integrated with a transport operator and have SMP.
Based on the study, at the highest, the modal shift resulting from the implementation of an MDMS regulation is expected to reach 1.7 per cent.
The analysis of the study will be finalised before the summer break and, following further assessment of the policy options, the new MDMS initiative should be adopted end of 2025.