Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance wins 'Behavioural Matter of the Year' at the Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards 2021. The Hong Kong team, led by Richard Blewett, have been recognised for their work on the MFN investigation, where Expedia, Booking.com and Trip.com were the subject of the first-ever commitments decision issued by Hong Kong’s Competition Commission in May 2020. All three online travel agencies agreed to remove wide price parity clauses from their contracts with accommodation providers in the territory. The enforcer’s investigation targeted most favoured nation clauses, which required accommodation providers in Hong Kong to give the platforms the same, or better, terms as those offered in all other sales channels. The agency launched a public consultation into the companies’ proposed commitments in March 2020 and officially accepted them two months later.

Richard Blewett commented: "This matter is of interest both as an example of the renewed interest in parity clauses in a number of APAC jurisdictions and also for the first use by Hong Kong's Competition Commission of commitments."