Tourism Law in Europe

19 concluded by filling out a form drawn up by QXL and the contract was later confirmed by QXL. Moreover, QXL received a fee for each contract concluded. On the other hand, QXL argued that it should be compared to a physical newspaper offering advertisements, and in addition, QXL had disclaimed any liability in its terms and conditions. None of these last arguments were concurred by the court. Also consultants can trigger the Danish intermediary rule. In the court ruling, U 2000.2559 Ø (Eastern Regional Court), the court was of the opinion (however, without stating on what ground), that a lawyer met the criteria of the intermediary rule when intermediating a sale of property between two peers. The lawyer handled the negotiation on behalf of the supplier (the seller of the house) and produced all documentation. It was without bearing that the consumer himself was represented by a legal advisor. Also, in a statement, no. 08/04028, from the Danish Consumer Ombudsman, the Ombudsman found that a business intermediating contracts between two peers was an active intermediary because it collected a fee for each contract and provided a payment system for the two parties. Despite the potentially wide scope of application of the intermediary rule, not many cases have been filed regarding the interpretation or enforcement of the rule. The authors of this contribution is of the perception that the intermediary rule is not well known to neither consumers nor suppliers and if you do not know your rights, you will not enforce them! 5.3.2. The legal consequences In addition to transforming the peer-to-peer contract between the supplier and the consumer into a business-to-consumer contract, there is a consequence for the platform as well, if it is governed by the intermediary rule. In the mentioned QXL case, the court ruled that QXL as an active intermediary is obligated to apply to the information duties set out in the relevant consumer protection legislation (in this case the Consumer Contract Act) (e.g. information about the right of withdrawal) triggered by the transformed contract. 70 QXL had given some general information about consumer rights, 70 The Danish law on e-commerce also includes a number of information duties. See for a general discussion in WENDEHORST, C., ‘Platform Intermediary Services and Duties under the E-Commerce Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive,’ EuCML , no 5, 2016 and in SANDFELD JACOBSEN, S., ‘Formidleransvaret i forbindelse med sociale tjenester på internettet,’ Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen , U2009B.291. See also case from