Booking.com-Case: Three More Questions To Be Answered?

In our previous news item on this case, we pointed out that with the Dutch Supreme Court ruling of 9 April 2021 (ECLI:NL:HR:2021:527), it had not yet been established that Booking.com is qualitatively and quantitatively an employer as defined in the so-called bcp-regulations for the Travel Industry as of 1 January 1999. The Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Booking.com 'mediates in the conclusion of agreements in the field of travel' as referred to in the mandatory ministerial decree for (then) the Travel Industry Pension Fund (currently: bpf PGB, both hereafter also referred to as 'bpf'). The Supreme Court referred the case to the Court of Appeal of The Hague to deal with Booking.com's other lines of defence, including the defence that Booking.com is not primarily an '(online) travel agent', but an 'IT company'. By judgement of 30 January 2024, the Court of Appeal of The Hague (ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2024:73) ruled that the scope of the mandatory ministerial decree of the