Digital economy

Ancillary, Digital competition, Digital economy, European Court of Justice, Market definition, Platforms, Pricing

(Leiden University)/ /Leave a comment

The recent judgment of the CJEU in Booking.com represents yet another development in the long series of cases concerning price parity clauses in the platform economy. In Booking.com’s case, the judgment represents the end of the line for its parity clauses. In its greater context of applying EU competition law in the digital economy, the…

Conference, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Digitisation, Enforcement

(University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

While core competition law enforcement has been going on for a while, the enforcement of the adjacent digital regulation is just beginning. The conference “Tools for Better Enforcement of EU Law in the Digital Space” dealt with such problems and took place on November 7 and 8, 2024 at the European Legal Studies Institute (ELSI)…

Abuse of dominance, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Essential Facility, Google, Self-preferencing

(Universität Würzburg)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The decision of the ECJ of 10th of September 2024 (C-48/22 P) brings the Google Shopping saga to an end. The decision by the highest court confirms the conviction of Alphabet by the General Court (T-612/17) (see the blogpost on General Court’s decision here). The European Commission had previously imposed a record fine of…

App stores, Apple, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Interoperability

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

To commemorate the Digital Markets Act’s initial designation decisions, in September the European Commission issued its first two decisions opening specification proceedings on Apple’s technical implementation of Article 6(7) DMA (see case DMA.100203 and case DMA.100204). These are the first specification proceedings triggered by the European Commission as stemming from its capacity to do so…

AI, Competition policy, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, European Union, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Innovation, Market investigations, Merger regulation, New Competition Tool, Objectives of Competition Law

(Centrum für Europäische Politik)/ /Leave a comment

As the European Commission prepares for a new mandate under President Ursula von der Leyen later this year, former ECB President Mario Draghi – famous for his “whatever it takes” approach to saving the Euro – has now turned his focus to the future of EU competitiveness in the digital age. His long-awaited report, commissioned…

Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Italy, National competition authorities (NCAs), Ne bis in idem, Spain

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Approaching the summer vacation, the end of July was deemed extremely eventful for NCA enforcement actions. On 18 July, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA or AGCM) triggered a sanctioning proceeding against Google with respect to the submission to users of a request for consent to the linking of the services they offer. A few days…

Burden of Proof, Designation Decision, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /2 Comments

The General Court dismissed ByteDance’s action seeking the annulment of the European Commission’s designation decision of its TikTok service. The Extended Composition of the Eighth Chamber of the General Court (GC) confirmed ByteDance’s status as a gatekeeper. The ruling is the first of its kind: the first ruling to address head on the Digital Markets…

Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Japan, Regulation, Remedies

(University Villanueva, Spain) and (Kyoto University)/ /Leave a comment

Japan is now the fourth region in the World to have adopted complementary rules to its competition law regime to capture the power of Big Tech. Following Germany’s, the UK’s and the European Union’s steps, Japan in June the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software (for short, the Smartphone Software Competition Promotion…

Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, National competition authorities (NCAs), National court

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was initially designed according to a centralised system of enforcement. At least, that was the configuration the European Commission presented within its first draft of the regulation. During the legislative process, the DMA’s enforcement system slightly pivoted to a quasi-centralised system of enforcement. National competition authorities (NCAs) of the Member…

Abuse of dominance, AI, Consumer welfare, Data protection, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets

(Católica Global School of Law) and (University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Europe has been a frontrunner in the regulation of artificial intelligence on a global scale. The adoption of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) defines one – despite important – step of the puzzle of European policy on AI. After the adoption of the Council last week, such an ambitious approach is still surrounded by…