Skip to content
CERRE think tank Logo
  • About us
    • About CERRE
    • Our team
    • Board of Directors
    • The CERRE Story
    • Careers
    • Transparency & Independence
    • FAQs
  • Areas of expertise
    • Energy, Mobility & Sustainability
    • Tech, Media, and Telecommunications
    • Cross-sector
  • Publications
    • Ambitions for EU 2024 – 2029
    • Global Governance for the Digital Ecosystems
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Past events
  • Blogposts
  • Insights
  • Media Room
    • Press Releases
    • Press Coverage
  • Membership
    • Our members
    • Become a member
  • Contact
  • About us
    • About CERRE
    • Our team
    • Board of Directors
    • The CERRE Story
    • Careers
    • Transparency & Independence
    • FAQs
  • Areas of expertise
    • Energy, Mobility & Sustainability
    • Tech, Media, and Telecommunications
    • Cross-sector
  • Publications
    • Ambitions for EU 2024 – 2029
    • Global Governance for the Digital Ecosystems
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Past events
  • Blogposts
  • Insights
  • Media Room
    • Press Releases
    • Press Coverage
  • Membership
    • Our members
    • Become a member
  • Contact
Filter by Sectors





Publications
#Tech, Media & Telecom

Assessing and Improving the DMA’s Impact

  • February 23, 2026
Share.
Read the Issue Paper "Assessing and Improving the DMA’s Impact"

How should the Commission assess the DMA’s real impact?

The European Commission must soon assess whether the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is delivering contestability and fairness in the digital sector. In the Issue Paper Assessing and Improving the DMA’s Impact, Academic Director Alexandre de Streel, together with Giorgio Monti and Richard Feasey, examine how this evaluation should be conducted and how it should shape enforcement.

Drawing on interviews with gatekeepers and business users, the paper finds that the public evidence base for the evaluation is scant. There is too little robust data on how end users and business users are actually responding to changes gatekeepers have made in response to the DMA, leaving the debate driven more by claims than by evidence.

The paper highlights that compliance and impact are distinct issues. While ensuring compliance remains essential, an evaluation of the DMA’s impacts must proceed in parallel, to help inform implementation and enforcement.

Key Recommendations

  1. Build a robust evidence base: The Commission should require gatekeepers to collect and disclose standardised quantitative data, building on CERRE’s proposed “output indicators” (e.g. switching and multi-homing behaviour, interaction with choice screens, take-up of alternative services) to enable a meaningful evaluation.
  2. Develop a structured cost-benefit framework: A clear evaluation framework is needed to assess both the benefits (innovation, entry, improved quality, privacy, lower switching costs) and the costs (compliance burdens, potential innovation trade-offs) of the DMA. Work should start now so that the 2026 review becomes the foundation of a more mature assessment by 2029.
  3. Use the evaluation to guide enforcement and improve international coherence: the findings of the evaluation should help the Commission prioritise enforcement of obligations and focus on changes to services that deliver the strongest net benefits, clarify what constitutes effective compliance, and improve coherence between DMA obligations and similar policy developments in other jurisdictions.

The research was presented on 25 February 2026 at the Digital Platforms Summit 2026.

Document(s)
Read the Issue Paper "Assessing and Improving the DMA’s Impact"
Assessing And Improving the DMA's Impact
Read more publications on Calaméo
Author(s)
Loading...
Richard Feasey (1)
Richard Feasey
CERRE Senior Advisor

Richard Feasey is a CERRE Senior Adviser, an Inquiry Chair at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and Member of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales.

He lectures at University College and Kings College London and the Judge Business School.

He has previously been an adviser to the UK Payments Systems Regulator, the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee and to various international legal and economic advisory firms.

He was Director of Public Policy for Vodafone plc between 2001 and 2013.

Richard Feasey is a CERRE Senior Adviser, an Inquiry Chair at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and Member of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales.

He lectures at University College and Kings College London and the Judge Business School.

He has previously been an adviser to the UK Payments Systems Regulator, the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee and to various international legal and economic advisory firms.

He was Director of Public Policy for Vodafone plc between 2001 and 2013.

Giorgio Monti
Giorgio Monti
Research Fellow
and Tilburg Law School

Giorgio Monti is a CERRE Research Fellow and Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg Law School.

He began his career in the UK (Leicester 1993-2001 and London School of Economics (2001-2010) before taking up the Chair in competition law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2010-2019). While at the EUI he helped establish the Florence Competition Program which carries out research and training for judges and executives. He also served as Head of the Law Department at the EUI.

His principal field of research is competition law, a subject he enjoys tackling from an economic and a policy perspective.

Together with Damian Chalmers and Gareth Davies he is a co-author of European Union Law: Text and Materials (4th ed, Cambridge University Press, 2019), one of the major texts on the subject. He is one of the editors of the Common Market Law Review.

Giorgio Monti is a CERRE Research Fellow and Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg Law School.

He began his career in the UK (Leicester 1993-2001 and London School of Economics (2001-2010) before taking up the Chair in competition law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2010-2019). While at the EUI he helped establish the Florence Competition Program which carries out research and training for judges and executives. He also served as Head of the Law Department at the EUI.

His principal field of research is competition law, a subject he enjoys tackling from an economic and a policy perspective.

Together with Damian Chalmers and Gareth Davies he is a co-author of European Union Law: Text and Materials (4th ed, Cambridge University Press, 2019), one of the major texts on the subject. He is one of the editors of the Common Market Law Review.

Alexandre De Streel (2)
Alexandre de Streel
Academic Director
and University of Namur

Alexandre de Streel is CERRE Academic Director, professor of European law at the University of Namur and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and SciencesPo Paris. He sits on the scientific committees of the Knight-Georgetown Institute (US), the European University Institute-Centre for a Digital Society (Italy), and the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (Germany).

His main research areas are regulation and competition policy in the digital economy (telecommunications, platforms, and data) as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence. He regularly advises the European Union and international organisations on digital regulation.

Previously, Alexandre held visiting positions at New York University Law School, the European University Institute in Florence, Panthéon-Assas (Singapore campus), Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, and the University of Louvain. He also worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union, and the European Commission. He has also been the chair of the expert group on the online platform economy, advising the European Commission.

Alexandre de Streel is CERRE Academic Director, professor of European law at the University of Namur and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and SciencesPo Paris. He sits on the scientific committees of the Knight-Georgetown Institute (US), the European University Institute-Centre for a Digital Society (Italy), and the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (Germany).

His main research areas are regulation and competition policy in the digital economy (telecommunications, platforms, and data) as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence. He regularly advises the European Union and international organisations on digital regulation.

Previously, Alexandre held visiting positions at New York University Law School, the European University Institute in Florence, Panthéon-Assas (Singapore campus), Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, and the University of Louvain. He also worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union, and the European Commission. He has also been the chair of the expert group on the online platform economy, advising the European Commission.

More publications

on #Tech, Media & Telecom

AI Governance and Geopolitics

27 May 2026

DMA@2: Towards Stronger Governance and Evaluation?

30 April 2026

The role of ‘European preference’ in Europe’s economic strategy

30 April 2026

Transatlantic cooperation on AI and national security

9 April 2026

​Mandating Openness in Regulated Markets 

30 March 2026

DMA Regulatory Interplays

25 February 2026

Towards an EU Consumer Law Fit for the Digital Age

24 February 2026

Horizontal Interoperability of Social Networking Services

18 February 2026

Open Tech Platforms: Technology and Governance Mechanisms

10 February 2026

Transatlantic cooperation on protecting minors online

14 January 2026

Stay informed

Subscribe to our newsletter for our latest updates

Subscribe now

Centre on Regulation in Europe asbl (CERRE)

Avenue Louise, 475 (box 10)
1050 Brussels, Belgium
T.: +32 2 230 83 60
E-mail: info@cerre.eu  

Follow and Subscribe

Linkedin-in Youtube Link
  • Copyright CERRE 2010-2026
  • BE 0824446055 RPM Bruxelles
About
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Annual review
  • Careers
  • Transparency & Independence
  • FAQs
Expertise
  • Energy, Mobility & Sustainability
  • Tech, Media, Telecom
  • Cross-sector
More
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Blogposts
  • Insights
  • Privacy & Legals
  • Cookie Policy

Centre on Regulation in Europe asbl (CERRE)

Avenue Louise, 475 (box 10)
B-1050 Brussels – Belgium
T.: +3222308360
E-mail: info@cerre.eu 

BE 0824446055 RPM Bruxelles

Linkedin-in Youtube
About
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Board of directors
  • Annual review
  • Careers
  • Transparency & Independence
  • FAQs
Expertise
  • Energy & Sustainability
  • Tech, Media, Telecom
  • Mobility
  • Cross-sector
More
  • Publications
  • Events
  • News & insights
  • Our members
  • Become a member

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience.

OK
CERRE Privacy Policy