The ruling was announced days before the Spanish government awarded the mega-travel agency with the tourism medal…
The ruling was announced days before the Spanish government awarded the mega-travel agency with the tourism medal . The State Court dismissed the appeal made by Viajes el Corte Inglés and the Royal Spanish Federation of Football against the ruling by the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition condemning Viajes el Corte Inglés and the Royal Spanish Federation of Football:
Firstly, for restriction of competitive practice by an exclusivity agreement to distribute tickets for the Football World Championship in France in 1998.
Secondly, imposing to both parties as authors of this prohibited conduct the fines of € 6,000.
Thirdly, demanding from Viajes el Corte Inglés and the Royal Spanish Federation of Football to abstain from implementing said conduct in the future.
Forth, pronouncing proved the conduct of Viajes el Corte Ingles and the Royal Spanish Federation of Football by which both restricted competition, consisting in the abuse of a dominant position in the market of football tickets and travel packages for the 1998 World Championship and discrimination by demanding pre-payments and denying to supply tickets to competitors.
Fifth, impose to both parties as perpetrators of this conduct a fine of 60,000 each. Sixth, demand to both parties to abstain from implementing said conduct in the future.
The case started back in 1998 when Convenco / Incentive Solutions, then a 24-years-old Madrid based incentive travel agency, requested to the Royal Spanish Federation of Football 600 tickets for the football matches in France in 1998, to include them in Convenco`s packages for the incentive travel market in Spain. The Federation instructed Convenco to request the tickets from the travel agency to which they had given the tickets? distribution exclusivity: the Incentive Travel and Conferences Department of Viajes el Corte Inglés.
Viajes el Corte Inglés demanded from Convenvo the tickets full pre-payment within 72 hours with a surcharge of 15% over base value, which Convenco paid in full within the time limit required.
Four weeks before the commencement of the World Cup matches Viajes el Corte Inglés informed Convenco that not even one single ticket will be awarded to Convenco.
It took Viajes el Corte Inglés one full month to refund Convenco / Incentive Solutions the advanced money, PTS 7,357,515.
The Federation had given to Viajes el Corte Inglés a total of 5,631 ticket of which the agency did not re-sell even one ticket to any other agency in Spain or anywhere, using all the tickets `at net price` for their own clients, mostly corporate.
Once the World Championship was over, Convenco took the case to the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition which on July the 25th in 2005 ruled on Convenco´s complaint against Viajes el Corte Inglés and the Royal Spanish Federation of Football with fines for restricting competition and abusing their position in the market as outlined before.
Viajes el Corte Inglés and the Royal Spanish Federation of Football appealed the ruling to the State Court ? la Audiencia Nacional – where now it was dismissed in its totality, reconfirming the ruling an fines of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
