The French Competition Authority (Autorité de la concurrence) has fined Doctolib €4,665,000 for abusing its dominant position in the markets for online medical appointment booking and telemedicine solutions. The decision follows a complaint filed by Cegedim Santé and a search and seizure operation conducted in 2021.
According to the Authority, Doctolib committed two distinct abuses. First, it imposed exclusivity obligations on its subscribers through restrictive clauses in its service contracts, requiring users of the Doctolib Teleconsultation service to also subscribe to Doctolib Patient. These practices effectively limited customers’ ability to use competing platforms. Second, Doctolib eliminated its principal rival, MonDocteur, by acquiring it in July 2018, thereby consolidating its dominance in an emerging national market for online medical appointment booking.
The Authority imposed a fine of €4.615 million for the exclusivity and tying practices. In addition, it levied a symbolic penalty of €50,000 in connection with the MonDocteur acquisition—marking the first time a merger was sanctioned under abuse of dominance provisions, specifically Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article L.420-2 of the French Commercial Code. Although the transaction fell below French merger notification thresholds and was not reviewed ex ante, the Authority found that it nonetheless contributed to the strengthening of Doctolib’s dominant position. The limited amount reflects the legal uncertainty that existed prior to the Towercast judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 16 March 2023, which clarified that non-notifiable mergers can still be scrutinized ex post under Article 102 TFEU.
Finally, Doctolib has been ordered to publish a summary of the decision both in print and online in the medical newspaper Le Quotidien du Médecin.