Deirdre Carroll

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On October 12, 2022, the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (see here), giving clarity as to when the new rules will apply. The DMA will enter into force on November 1, 2022, and it will become fully applicable in May 2023. At that point, the gatekeeper designation process will start, and once designated, gatekeepers will have six months to comply with the DMA. This means that the DMA will only be fully enforceable against companies in spring 2024, likely around March.
Continue Reading Formal Publication of the DMA and Timelines for Compliance

On July 18, 2022, the long-awaited Digital Markets Act (DMA) received the final approval of the EU’s co-legislators. The DMA will impose stringent far-reaching obligations on the largest digital platforms: the “gatekeepers.” The regulation will give the European Commission (EC) significant new enforcement powers, including the ability to impose severe fines and remedies in case of non-compliance.

The DMA will profoundly change the way in which big tech platforms operate in the EU. It will capture the largest tech companies and potentially 15-20 other platforms such as Alibaba and Booking.com. It will also create complications for non-gatekeepers, as the rules will impact how data can be shared with a gatekeeper’s commercial partners.
Continue Reading D(MA)-Day: Formal Adoption of the EU Digital Markets Act

In anticipation of its new powers to regulate the largest digital platforms, the EU is planning to open a San Francisco base to engage with these companies, which are based mostly in Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area. The EU’s plans to open its first representative office on Californian soil reflects the EU’s intent to remain at the forefront of digital regulation initiatives worldwide.
Continue Reading EU to Open San Francisco Office to Advance Its Digital Regulation Agenda

The European Union (EU) will soon be handed sweeping new rules to regulate the conduct of the largest digital platforms with the long-awaited Digital Markets Act (DMA). Following 15 months of intense negotiations on amendments to the original Proposal, the presidents of the main EU institutions (the Parliament, Council, and Commission) reached a political agreement on the final text of the DMA on March 24, 2022. The final vote is planned for July 2022, with the rules expected to come into effect in October 2022. It is expected that designated gatekeepers will need to comply by early 2024.
Continue Reading EU Adopts New Rules to Significantly Limit the Power of Tech Platforms

The EU Parliament and the EU Council recently adopted their respective versions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), which intend to create new antitrust-related (DMA) and regulatory (DSA) rules applicable to digital platforms.1

The adoption of the draft amendments by the EU Parliament and the EU Council constitutes a critical step towards final adoption of these laws. Now, the EU Commission (EC), Parliament, and Council are undergoing negotiations (so-called “trilogues“) to agree on a final version of the laws. The institutions could reach an agreement on the DMA and the DSA within the coming months, but it may take some time before it is enacted.
Continue Reading EU Parliament and Council Take Next Steps to Advance Major New Rules for Digital Platforms

On December 15, 2020, the European Commission (EC) unveiled a set of proposals to regulate digital platforms. The draft laws include antitrust-related requirements, addressed by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and more general regulatory requirements, addressed in the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DMA/DSA package will apply to all digital services, including social media, online marketplaces, and other online platforms, meaning tech companies active in Europe will have a new set of rules to follow.
Continue Reading European Commission Proposes New Rules for Digital Platforms