The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation is an independent non-profit foundation. We take action against organisations and companies that abuse their dominant position, form cartels or act unlawfully against consumers in other ways. We represent the interests of Dutch and European consumers.

The foundation represents the interests of Dutch and European consumers when they suffer or have suffered damage as a result of fraudulent, misleading or unfair trade practices. This may involve, for example, companies that form a cartel or organisations that abuse their dominant position. 

A single consumer can hardly take a stand against large companies. The damage suffered by an individual is often not significant enough when compared with the huge costs and time that a consumer needs to incur when pursuing legal action. The Foundation helps to solve this so-called 'collective action' problem. We can act on behalf of large groups of consumers at one time, and have the specific expertise needed to conduct successful actions.

The purpose of the foundation is described in more detail in our articles of association, which can be found on the 'Documents' page.

You can send an email to info@consumercompetitionclaims.com. We will respond as soon as possible. 

Yes, the privacy policy can be found here. We collect information about you in the following cases:

• When you visit our website, we place functional cookies. 
• If you e-mail us, we will view and store the personal data contained in your e-mail. 
• When you become a participant in one of our actions, we collect the data necessary to do our job for you.

Booking.com and affiliated companies ("Booking.com") are acting unlawfully, thus causing damage to Dutch consumers.

Since 1 January 2013, so for well over 10 years, Booking.com has imposed obligations on hotels known as “parity obligations.” These obligations and similar practices prevent hotels from offering lower prices or better conditions through other online sales channels than Booking.com’s platform. As a result, consumers pay too much for their hotel rooms. This conduct by Booking.com violates competition laws, including cartel bans, abuse of a dominant position, and the Digital Markets Act. 

Furthermore, Booking.com engages in misleading statements, for example about hotel room availability. Such tactics lead consumers to make choices they wouldn’t otherwise make. These misleading practices are known as “dark patterns” and are unlawful under both European and Dutch law.

Several competition authorities have imposed fines on Booking.com and thus already determined that the market has been distorted. But consumer harm continues—and Booking.com persists in its conduct. That’s why Stichting Consumenten Competition Claims has initiated a collective action against Booking.com. The foundation wants Booking.com to cease its unlawful actions and compensate consumers for damages suffered.

Consumers have been misled and have paid more than necessary for hotel rooms. Booking.com has violated competition and consumer protection laws. The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation demands that Booking.com stop these unlawful practices and compensate consumers for the harm they have suffered.

If you booked a hotel room via Booking.com, a similar online platform, or directly on a hotel’s website since 2013, it is likely that you have suffered damages. The exact compensation depends on how often you booked, the room prices, and destinations. For many, the damages range from tens to hundreds of euros. In total, Dutch consumers are estimated to have suffered hundreds of millions of euros in damages.

If you booked a hotel room online after 1 January 2013, you likely paid too much. You may also have been misled about prices, availability, or discounts due to so-called “dark patterns” – manipulative design tricks that influence your choices. As a result, you may have booked at a worse price than you otherwise would have.

You can participate if you meet the following criteria:
  (i) You are 18 years or older (or have permission from a parent or legal guardian), and
  (ii) Since 1 January 2013, you have booked at least once:
    (a) via Booking.com,
    (b) via a similar online hotel booking website (e.g. Agoda, Expedia), or
    (c) directly via a hotel’s own website,
  (iii) and you were living in the Netherlands at the time of the booking.

You can sign up via this link. This will take you to the Consumentenbond website, our official partner. 

To register, fill in the required details and accept the participant agreement. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email.

If you log in, or are already logged in, with your account (=email address + password) on the website of the Consumentenbond, you will find your participation in the claim under “My Consumentenbond” 🡪 “Claims” 🡪 “My Claims”. There you will also find the participant agreement that applies to you.

We will keep you updated  by email and on the Booking Claim timeline—on both our website and that of the Consumentenbond.

When participating in the Booking Claim, the 'no cure, no pay' principle applies. Registering is free of charge. If there is no settlement or positive verdict, the funder gets nothing and bears the costs. You do not have to pay anything in that case.

If we do achieve a settlement or positive decision, and you receive damages or some other form of compensation, a maximum of 25% of that amount will be withheld. The foundation then transfers this percentage to the external financier who bears the costs of the claim, as the foundation has no profit motive.

The foundation tries to recover the 'no cure no pay' percentage from Booking.com, so you may not have to contribute any part of your compensation at all. We cannot promise this will succeed at this stage, but we are doing our best.

Consumer Competition Claims Foundation is an independent non-profit foundation. It will therefore not make a profit through this case. It is merely acting as your advocate. You can learn more about the foundation on this website.

The class action is funded by Bidwell, a legal entity established in Delaware, United States. This is a subsidiary of Burford Capital LLC, a so-called litigation funder. This is a party that specialises in financing lawsuits.

If the class action does not result in compensation for damages, the litigation and other costs will be borne entirely by the funder. This is because we do not think it is fair for you to have to pay the costs.

If the action does lead to compensation for the damage you suffered, the funder is entitled to a success fee. This is the compensation the funder receives for the financial risks it has taken to cover all the costs. How high that success fee is depends on the amount of the total compensation Booking.com has to pay. That fee is capped at 25%, but it could be lower. We’ll ask the court to require Booking.com to pay this fee as part of the settlement or judgment. If that happens, you’ll keep your entire compensation. Again, we cannot promise this outcome, but we’ll pursue it actively.

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation is independent of the external funder and has no profit motive.

Do you no longer want to participate? That is unfortunate, but you can degister. If you no longer wish to participate, contact the Consumentenbond’s customer service. You can do so via this link: send us a message | Consumers' Association

You can cancel the agreement you enter into with us free of charge within 14 days of registration. If you cancel after 14 days, the Consumer Competition Claims Foundation is still entitled to the (cost) compensation as agreed in the participation agreement.

As you can also read further in the agreement (and this FAQ), that right to compensation exists if there is a settlement or (final) judgment based on which you receive compensation in connection with the Booking Claim. If the foundation reaches a settlement, you will have another opportunity to opt out and pursue your own legal action. Full details can be found in the participant agreement..

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation protects consumers against, among other things, unfair commercial practices, such as competition law violations, breaches of consumer law and other wrongful acts. It is committed to ensure that unfair, unlawful actions stop and consumers receive compensation. It always aims to reach a settlement first, but will take legal action if necessary.

In this case, the Consumer Competition Claims Foundation is working together with the Consumentenbond. The foundation and the Consumentenbond have closely overlapping objectives when it comes to protecting consumers' interests. Founded in 1953, the Consumentenbond has been working to protect consumers' interests for the past 70 years. With over 400,000 members, the Consumentenbond is one of the largest associations in the Netherlands. The Consumentenbond helps bring the claim to the attention of consumers.

The foundation also works with law firms Lindenbaum and Finch, two law firms specialising in class actions. To calculate consumer damages, the foundation relies on the respected economic consultancy Copenhagen Economics.

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation wants Valve to stop cheating and allow for fair competition. We will first enter into discussions with Valve and ask it to cease its parity obligations, excessive commissions and the tied selling of in-game purchases. We also want Valve to compensate the harmed Dutch PC gamers.

If we can't reach an agreement with Valve, we will take legal action to put an end to Valve's unfair practices and to get PC gamers compensated for the inflated prices they've paid for PC games.

That depends on how much you've spent on PC games and additional in-game content, like DLC and/or in-game purchases. It doesn't matter whether you bought these on Steam or through other online channels (such as Epic Games, Ubisoft Connect or Humble Bundle). Since, because of Valve's unfair practices, prices on those channels were too high as well. The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation has brought in the economic consultants at Copenhagen Economics to work out the damage. Their early estimate is that Dutch gamers have overpaid by more than 220 million euros. With interest, that comes down to more than 130 euros per gamer, and a good deal more for avid gamers.

Your sign-up matters: there's strength in numbers. The more gamers who join the GameClaim, the better we can stand up for your rights.

You can sign up for this collective action if:

• you're 18 or older, or have permission from your parent(s) or legal guardian(s);
• you live in the Netherlands; and
• since 1 January 2013, while living in the Netherlands, you made at least one purchase of a PC game or additional in-game content (DLC and/or microtransactions) through Steam or another online distribution channel for PC games (for example Epic, the Microsoft Store, Ubisoft Connect or Humble Bundle).

The claim also includes games developed by Valve itself.

Signing up is free, because we work on a 'no cure, no pay' basis. That means you pay nothing if there's no result.

The collective action is funded by Winward NL Limited, a legal entity based in the Cayman Islands that specialises in financing litigation.

If the collective action doesn't lead to compensation, the costs of the lawsuit and other costs are entirely borne by the funder, as the Consumenten Competition Claims Foundation believes it would not be fair for you to carry the litigation risk.

If the action does result in compensation for the harm you've suffered, the funder is entitled to a success fee: its reward for taking on the financial risk of covering all the costs. How high that fee is, depends on how the proceedings unfold. We've agreed with the funder that the success fee cannot exceed 25%, plus a compensation of up to 5% for the costs incurred. It can come out lower than that, but not higher.

Importantly, you will never be asked to transfer any money yourself to take part in this collective action, not even if the collective action succeeds. The success fee and compensation will be deducted directly from the compensation you receive, so you'll never get an invoice or a payment request.

We'll ask the court to order Valve to pay the full compensation for the funder and cover all the costs. If it does, you won't pay a 'no cure, no pay' fee at all. We can't promise that will happen, but we'll do our best.

Stichting Consumenten Competition Claims is independent of the external funder and is a non-profit.

You can sign up using the registration form here on our website. It takes less than 5 minutes. After sign up you'll get a confirmation by email. The more gamers sign up, the better, as it lets us show the court that our collective action has broad support.

You can cancel your participation at any time.

If you cancel after 14 days and a settlement or ruling later gets you compensation through the GameClaim, The Consumenten Competition Claims Foundations is still entitled to the fee set out in the participation agreement.

To be clear: you never pay anything yourself. The fee can only be deducted from any payout.

If you don't want to be bound by the collective action after cancelling, you'll need to use the opt-out option when the court offers it.

For all the details, read the participation agreement.

The Consumenten Competition Claims Foundation uses Winward NL Limited as its external litigation funder, which covers all the costs of the proceedings up front. If the case is lost, those costs stay entirely with the funder, so you take on no financial risk at all.

We chose to bring in an external funder on purpose: that way consumers face no financial risk and don't have to front the costs. Without this funding, a collective action against a company as large as Valve simply wouldn't be possible. And we want to be clear that the Consumenten Competition Claims Foundation has no commercial stake of its own in the outcome.

No. The Consumenten Competition Claims Foundation is a non-profit foundation. Any proceeds go to the affected consumers, after the costs and the litigation funder's fee have been deducted.

This action represents PC gamers who live in the Netherlands, so if you live elsewhere you unfortunately can't take part. You can still show your support, though, and we'd love you to. Just use the sign-up form on this website.

Collective actions of this size usually take several years. We'll keep you posted by email and on our website about how things are progressing and any important developments in the case.

For most app purchases and in-app purchases, you should have paid up to 25% less. We want Apple to stop its unlawful acts and to pay EU consumers the damages to which they are entitled.

Apple restricts iPhone and iPad consumers freedom of choice and charges excessive prices. In its terms and conditions for app developers, Apple prohibits all competition with its App Store and payment application IAP. Because Apple does not allow competition, it is able to charge excessive, monopolistic prices. Apple also commits the following violations:

• Apple influences the prices that app developers charge. This results in consumers paying too much. 
• Apple arbitrarily excludes apps from the App Store. As a result, consumers have less choice. 
• Apple limits contact between you and the developers of your apps. As a result, you cannot get proper help in case of problems, or refunds from the app developer. 

Apple's behaviour is unlawful and a clear violation of European competition law.

Why is this a problem for you as a consumer? Because you have paid too much for apps and in-app purchases as a result of Apple's behaviour. You also pay too much for subscriptions via Apple. App developers pass the excessive rates charged by Apple (usually: 30%) on to consumers. 

Through negotiation. And if that fails, through the court.

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation has tried to solve the matter with Apple and asked Apple to voluntarily pay damages to consumers. Apple refused this.

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation will therefore start legal proceedings: a so-called collective action in the Netherlands. In this lawsuit we will represent the interests of EU consumers. The more consumers who join us, the better. Strength lies in numbers.

The status of the case can be found here.

In the Apple action, we seek damages on behalf of all EU consumers who have purchased apps from the App Store and/or made in-app purchases (excluding Apple's own apps) on an iPhone or iPad, in the period after 1 September 2009.  

In other words, you are entitled to compensation if you:
 

• Own or have owned an iPhone or iPad;
• Have purchased an app at least once or have made a purchase within an app (a non-Apple app) after 1 September 2009; and
• Reside in the EU.

Support our action by signing up! We will then stay in touch with you about the action.

You can register via this link. By registering, you support our cause. Your support is very important, because we will then be able to put more pressure on Apple to stop its unlawful conduct and compensate consumers as quickly as possible.

We will then keep you informed of developments in the case. We will also share important decisions, such as a possible settlement, with you. 

Signing up costs you nothing. This is a conscious decision by the Consumer Competition Claims Foundation. We don't want the victims of Apple's behaviour to have to invest money to protect their rights. Instead, a no cure, no pay agreement applies.

The Apple class action will be financed by Hereford Litigation Finance 4 Limited based in Guernsey. Hereford Litigation is a third-party litigation funder headquartered in London and is experienced in the financing of group and collective litigation globally. The funder has agreed to provide the necessary funds to enable the foundation to bring the proceedings against Apple without any financial contribution from or risk to individual class members. This means that the funding to bring the claim against Apple will be provided by the funder on a no win – no fee basis, and the funder will only receive compensation if the claim is successful.

The foundation will first seek to recover all costs from Apple, including the costs of the funding. If this is not possible, a maximum of 24% will be deducted from the total amount of damages to compensate the funder. The more successful the claim is, and the higher the damages awarded, the lower the compensation of the funder will be, decreasing from 24% to 20% to 15% and eventually reaching 10% of the total damages.

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation is an independent non-profit foundation. This means you do not have to pay us anything. Not if the action succeeds, and not if the action fails.

You cannot join two similar actions against Apple. You should only sign up to support one foundation in a specific case. You can terminate your participation with the other foundation, after which you can register your support for the European Apple Claim. You can do that here. 

Yes. You can do this by sending an email to terminate@consumercompetitionclaims.com. We ask you to include “Termination Agreement) in the subject line. Please note: you can cancel this agreement free of charge within fourteen days. If you cancel after fourteen days, Consumer Competition Claims Foundation will still be entitled to the (cost) compensation. This right only exists if Apple pays compensation as part of a settlement or legal proceedings related to the claim. More information about this can be found in articles 2 and 3 of the Participation Agreement that you entered into with Consumer Competition Claims Foundation.