Margrethe Vestager, Vice-President of the European Commission for Competition, announced the arrival of the Digital Markets Act in the spring of 2023, during a speech in Berlin on May 5, during the annual conference of the International Competition Network, a cooperation network of competition authorities.
Things are happening behind the scenes at the European Commission
After the political agreement reached between the various institutions of the European Union in March 2022 for the DMA, the regulation ” will come into force next spring Reveals Margrethe Vestager.
Funding of networks by GAFAM: Brussels does not give up on me
Proposed by the Commission at the end of 2020, the text was finalized in record time at EU level. A manifestation of the consensus that emerged around this new legislation. The DMA should make it possible to fill the ” limitations of traditional application instruments » competition laws against digital giants.
During her speech, she praised the political work done, ” The EU has worked hard to find the right balance, and I think we have arrived at something tough, but also very fair “.
The Vice-President of the Commission explained that the authorities of the Old Continent are already preparing for the arrival of the DMA and there is no lack of work: creating new appropriate structures, pooling the resources of the Directorate-General for Competition and that of communications, upgrading computer systems, drafting legal texts on procedures, recruiting staff, etc.
This work will also go through discussions “ with national competition authorities about our future cooperation within the DMA, as well as the coordination between the DMA and existing national regulations “, she developed.
Margrethe Vestager told the representative of the regulatory authorities meeting in Berlin, ” Many of you will be following the rollout of DMA with great interest. It will be a mutual learning experience “.
The regulation of digital giants, mainly GAFAM, has become a shared issue in most Western countries and beyond. Europe is a pioneer in adapting its regulations to the new reality of the market, even if Margrethe Vestager did not fail to salute the work of Korean legislators in the field.
Margrethe Vestager’s work has just begun
Highly anticipated, the application of DMA is also likely to disappoint. The foreseeable slowness of the process, of the sanctions taken, could turn against the image of this widely hailed legislative initiative.
If the DMA comes into force in the spring of 2023, the first procedures related to the regulations will begin at best in the fall of the same year. During the first three months after the arrival of the text, the large companies affected by it, the “gatekeepers”, will have to report.
As a reminder, the “gatekeepers” are the “basic” platforms, with a market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros or with an annual turnover of 7.5 billion euros, with at least 45 million users and 10,000 professional users per year in Europe.
Once they have notified each other, the Commission will then have two months to confirm the designation as Gatekeeper. Additional time for the European authorities to put themselves in battle order, to be able to apply the DMA as soon as possible.