Illegal Coordination Between Competitors Via An Online System

On May 3, 2016, the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court (LSAC) largely upheld fines originally imposed by the Lithuanian competition authority on travel agency users of an online booking system. The authority had fined several agencies for concerted practices related to a common online travel reservation system. The operator of the reservation platform had sent the travel agents participating in the system an electronic message capping the rebates that could be granted for products sold via the system and had technically adapted the system so as to implement this cap. The authority found this to constitute an illegal information exchange. The case ultimately went on appeal to the EU's highest court (the European Court of Justice) which held that travel agents which knew the content of the message could be presumed to have participated in an illegal concerted practice, unless they had distanced themselves from the message, challenged its imposition or adduced other