(Finance) – The European Commission has welcomed the quick understanding reached yesterday between European Parliament and EU Council on the Digital Markets Act (Dma). The regulation, approved just over a year after the presentation of the proposal (in December 2020), is among the first initiatives of this type to fully regulate the power of “Gatekeeper” (guardians of the access) of the largest digital companies.
THE “gatekeeper” to which the regulation will apply are the main providers of platform services more likely to resort to unfair practices, such as search engines, social networks or online brokerage services. They are “companies that often create bottlenecks between companies and consumers and sometimes also control entire ecosystems, consisting of different platform services such as online marketplaces, operating systems, cloud services or online search engines”, Explains the Commission in a note.
These guardians of access to the digital market, identified and designated on the basis of certain quantitative thresholds, will be subject to a series of obligations and prohibitions defined by the regulation, referring to the most unfair market practices, which often create or strengthen barriers for other companies. The general objective is to ensure competitive access to digital services controlled by the “gatekeeper“.
The political agreement reached by the negotiators of European Parliament and EU Council it will now have to be formally approved by the two co-legislators. Once adopted, the DMA regulation it will be directly applicable across the EU and will apply six months after entry into force.
“The agreement on the law on digital markets (DMA) marks a milestone. In fact, this law creates a fairer and more competitive economic space for European companies, stimulates innovation and contestability in digital markets, favors the sharing of value between the various subjects participating in the digital economy and increases the choice of consumers. and of European citizens “. Thus in a note the Minister for Digital Transition, Vittorio Colao. “Italy – he adds – has fought for the introduction of asymmetrical obligations and prohibitions and we have obtained that the platforms that offer one or more basic intermediation services in at least three member states are qualified as gatekeepers, such as marketplace and app store, search engines, social networks, cloud services and advertising services “.
“There we are spent to guarantee that obligations introducts were proportionate – he continues. From the obligation to guarantee users the right to unsubscribe from the services of the main platform to that of not requesting default software to the installation of the operating system, from that of interoperability of the basic functionalities of instant messaging services to that of equal access by the developers of app to the additional features of smartphones, from that of guaranteeing sellers access to their data marketing or performance advertising on the platform to inform the European Commission of their acquisitions and mergers“.
“Also on prohibitions we asked for European precedents to direct us – adds the Minister -: the result is that gatekeepers will not be able to classify their own products or services preferring them to those of others (self-preferencing)they will not be able to reuse the private data collected during a service for the purposes of another service, nor will they be able to establish unfair conditions for commercial users or pre-install certain software applications or require app developers to use certain services (such as payment systems or identity providers) to be listed in app stores. “
“With the DMA – concludes Colao – wins all Europe and Italywhere we also proposed the introduction of the presumption of economic dependence of our small and medium-sized enterprises that use intermediation services provided by a digital platform with a decisive role. It’s important in fact, allowing many Italian companies to be able to protect themselves – at sustainable costs – if discriminatory or incorrect conditions are applied to them. At the same time, platforms must continue to be allowed to provide the evidence in their possession that they show that they do not discriminate. A choice that is now up to Parliament“.