The European Commission released its proposal for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in December 2020; a new set of rules designed to ensure “fair and open digital markets”.
Writing in a personal capacity, CERRE Academic Co-Director, Alexandre de Streel, who coordinated the CERRE report “Digital Markets Act: Making economic regulation of platforms fit for the digital age”, unpacks the Commission’s proposal in an article for Pro Market, the publication of the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
The article outlines the key features of the Commission’s proposal, the obligations of which will only be imposed upon so-called digital “gatekeepers” according to the DMA’s “three criteria test”. Professor de Streel discusses the Commission’s policy choices as well as the potential controversies and impacts that may arise from the DMA.
“In proposing the Digital Markets Act, the European Commission made four key policy choices which will shape the activities of large digital gatekeepers in Europe in the years to come; three of these are in line with an European regulatory tradition which is different than the US practice, while the fourth choice is new for Europe.”
Read the full article on the Pro Market website.
The debate on the Digital Markets and Digital Services Acts is just getting started in Brussels.
Following the publication of CERRE’s recommendations for the DMA and DSA, the latter of which has been referenced in the Commission’s DMA Impact Assessment Report, CERRE will host a series of online ‘rendez-vous’ events throughout the first half of 2021 to delve deeper into each proposal. Alexandre de Streel, co-author of both reports, will join key players from the online platform and telecommunication industries, national regulators, policy makers, European startups, international stakeholders and academics to discuss specific aspects of the Commission’s proposals.
Find out more about the first ‘rendez-vous’ on 19 January, and the second on 9 February.
