12 December 2023
With last week's political agreement on the AI Act, tech companies are renewing their focus on implementation of the Digital Markets Act.
Today Reuters reported that Google, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm, Honor, Lenovo, Lynx, Motorola, Nothing, Opera and Wire have formed the Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems (CODE) to “promote more open platforms and systems to boost growth and innovation in Europe.”
🔹 CODE will work with policymakers, academics and businesses on digital openness in Europe “through the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and in future EU regulatory framework developments”
🔹 CODE also aspires to open up digital ecosystems through interoperable systems and seamless connectivity, via cross-industry collaboration
The DMA, applicable since May 2023, aims to ensure fair markets in the digital sector by regulating “gatekeepers” (large online platforms providing a gateway between businesses and consumers with the power to create a bottleneck in the digital economy).
The EU Commission designated Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft as “gatekeepers” under the DMA in September in respect of the 22 core platform services in the diagram below. The Commission is investigating whether Microsoft’s Bing and Edge platforms, and Microsoft Advertising, meet the gateway criteria. It decided not to designate Gmail, Outlook.com and Samsung Internet Browser as core platform services following submissions from their providers.
🔹 Designated gatekeepers have until March to submit detailed compliance reports on how they will comply with the DMA for each designated platform service
🔹 Gatekeepers failing to comply can be fined up to 10% of total worldwide turnover, or 20% in case of repeated infringements
With so much focus on the AI Act, we shouldn’t forget that the EU has already made significant regulatory changes to Europe’s tech landscape…