The EU focuses on big technology with the new Digital Markets Act
The rules that make up the new one have been confirmed by MEPs Digital Markets Act (DMA). The legislation is intended to change the power of big tech corporations such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta, forcing them to change the way they integrate digital services and handle customer data.
I press conference Held early on Friday morning, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president and competition commissioner, said she expected the DMA to enter into force “sometime in October”.
To date, the EU has dealt with any concerns of mistrust on a case-by-case basis. This legislation aims to reform the system and address the perceived systemic issues within the market.
The text, which was provisionally agreed after an eight-hour discussion between the EU Parliament, the Council and the Commission, focuses on large companies known as ‘gatekeepers’ that provide “central platform services” and are likely to they enact unfair business practices. .
This will initially include companies with a market capitalization of at least € 75 billion (or sales of over € 7.5 billion in Europe), at least 45 million monthly users in the EU, and which provide certain digital services, such as browsers web, virtual assistants. , messaging or social media applications.
Private chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger could be forced to interact, giving users more choice over how they send messages, without having to worry about which platform the recipient is on.
While the DMA has a broad scope and is intended to enable a range of antitrust activity, there are also some specific demands on technology companies. In addition to the issue of interoperability, these also include the right to uninstall, controls on access to personal data, greater transparency on advertising, elimination of vendors. self-selection of their own servicesand stop certain app store requirements for developers.
If a gateway company fails to comply with the rules, the Commission will have the authority to impose a fine of up to 10% of a company’s total global turnover from the previous financial year, or 20% for repeated infringements. If a company is found to be in constant breach of the legislation, the European Commission may prohibit them from acquiring other companies for a certain period of time.
Christian Ahlborn, partner and co – leader of the technology sector at London – based law firm Linklaters, said that while all sides have made some concessions in the latest draft of the legislation, the parties involved in the legislation also pulled up. their way with specific amendments.
“The inclusion of virtual assistants and web browsers in legislation is a great victory for the European Parliament,” he said. “The Council, in turn, has kept the threshold for qualifying as a” gatekeeper “lower than that required by the European Parliament, ensuring that more platforms fall within the scope of the DMA.”
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The EU focuses on big technology with the new Digital Markets Act
Source link The EU focuses on big technology with the new Digital Markets Act
