BRUSSELS, May 24 (Reuters) Lobbying groups representing airlines, hotels, and retailers have urged European Union tech regulators to ensure that Google considers the views of all parties, not just large intermediaries, when making changes to comply with landmark tech rules.
In March, hotel group Hotrec, European Hotel Forum, EuroCommerce, Ecommerce Europe, and Independent Retail Europe expressed concerns about the impact of the new rules. The Airlines for Europe group, which includes Air France KLM (AIRF.PA) and British Airways owner IAG (ICAG.L), opens a new tab.
The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) imposes a list of dos and don’ts on Google and five other tech giants in order to provide users with more options and rivals with a better chance to compete, but the groups have expressed concerns that the changes will harm their revenues.
In a joint letter to EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager and EU industry chief Thierry Breton dated May 22, they stated that their concerns had grown since then.
Initial observations indicate that these changes risk severely depleting companies’ direct sales revenues by giving more prominence to powerful online intermediaries.
