Up to 10 million crowns. First fines for P2B violations in the Czech Republic

The European Union seems to have no brake on spewing  regulations to keep up with the digital world. Its P2B regulation (Platform to Business) aims to tackle unfair business practices on the internet and set fair and transparent rules. These apply to web and mobile app operators, or those who allow businesses to offer their services to end customers on their platforms. And to facilitate payments to them. Examples include online marketplaces or search engines such as Foodora, Booking, Ticketportal or Fler. We know what fines have been issued and what the most common platform violations are – keep reading. 🔜

Not sure? Contact us and we'll help you with your classification.

Transparent platforms

P2B sets rules for platforms on how they rank and display the listings of individual businesses. If a business is able to purchase a more favorable position in the results, the platform must clearly explain and describe under what conditions this is possible. P2B aims to ensure fair access for all users and promote fair competition.

The types of platforms (as well as exceptions from P2B) have been listed by the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) in its Guide (on pages 3-4).

I want to know what to address, I'm going for a quick online legal check-up.

The first fines have already been issued

Since March 2023, the Czech Telecommunications Authority has been supervising compliance with P2B. It also has statutory powers to carry out inspections and issue fines. The CTU has swung into action and the first sanctions are on the table for operators.

As of December 2024, we have already recorded 12 decisions imposing a total of 12 fines:

• 6 in the amount of CZK 10-20,000 (2 of which were purely for failure to provide the CTU with assistance),
• 1 in the range of CZK 20-50 000,
• 2 in the range of CZK 50-100 000,
• 3 exceeding the threshold of CZK 100 000.

Up to 10 million crowns

So far, we have registered fines ranging from CZK 10,000 to CZK 150,000, where the CTU takes into account the size of the platform, its turnover and the total number of violations. The biggest offences can earn a fine of up to ten million crowns.

"It is unfortunate that the CTU's decisions generally exclude the possibility of a mere warning or waiver of punishment, instead resorting immediately to sanctions. This is all the more so in the case of legislation with such complex content and technicalities. Exceptionally, the CTU may call for corrections without initiating an offence procedure, which in itself could lead to a positive outcome," says Lukáš Slavník, attorney at law and IT law expert.

If your last review of P2B was a few years ago (or not yet), keep in mind that the risk of sanctions has become very real. In particular, if you are doing business in a competitive environment, there is a risk of whistle-blower checks. Although, as we described above, first offenses don't usually lead to drastic penalties.

I have an online platform and I want to get everything right.

The most common platform errors under the CTU's magnifying glass

Most of the offences relate to transparency. The main areas where the CTU has fined misconduct are:

1. Failure to disclose terms and conditions to business users, including cases of being available only on request,
2. failure to notify business users of changes to the terms and conditions on a durable medium (typically a PDF sent by email) and at least 15 days before the change to the terms and conditions,
3. failure to set out the way in which offers are ranked within the platform and the main parameters that determine the ranking, contractually in the terms and conditions,
4. not including the reasons for the possibility of suspending the provision of services in the terms and conditions,
5. failure to provide proper justification for the suspension of services on a durable medium (usually a PDF) referring to the specific reasons for the suspension of services set out in the terms and conditions,
6. failure to disclose information on the impact on intellectual property rights in the terms and conditions,
7. the lack of description of the possibilities of termination of the businesses’ activity on the platform and what happens to their data in such a case,
8. failure to list at least 2 mediators with whom the platform is willing to resolve disputes (for medium and larger platforms),
9. lack of an internal complaints handling system (for medium and larger platforms),
10. the absence of annual and publicly available reporting on the functioning and effectiveness of the internal complaints handling system,
11. not including information on additional distribution channels that business users can use,
12. the absence of a description of the technical and contractual access of business users to any personal or other data provided by users of the service or generated in the course of providing the service, or an indication that such access does not exist,
13. absence of an indication of the extent to which any data from the Service is used, including aggregate information and without limitation only personal information covered by the GDPR, and who has access to it to what extent.

Has the CTU contacted you or has it already started an inspection? We offer consultation and representation to put your mind at ease.

As of December 2024, no decisions related to the inspections have yet been challenged in court and, pending any clarification of the rules, further inspections of that or a broader scope can be expected.

What to do now? We recommend aligning your terms and conditions with the P2B regulation and setting up processes for ongoing compliance, for example for changes to terms and conditions. If you do not see the above requirements implemented, we will be happy to go through them with you and set them up. Want to read more about European regulations? We recommend our comprehensive e-book for platform operators.