The rise of digital platforms has revolutionised the global economy, yet it has also introduced a range of regulatory challenges and competitive concerns. This situation has resulted in the creation of vast digital ecosystems. The platforms managing these ecosystems have the motivation and capability to exclude suppliers, allowing them to dominate these markets. While simply…
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…
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…
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…
The DMA seeks to capture gatekeeper conduct. For that, the regulation applies to those targets of the regulation satisfying the legal category of a gatekeeper. If an undertaking is not a gatekeeper as per a designation decision issued by the European Commission (EC), then it will not remain captured by the regulatory instrument. In September…
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) entails a change in the narrative of the punitive framework applied to digital dominant undertakings under EU competition law. At least, that’s what the European’s digital strategy proposed it to be. The failure of antitrust followed a new paradigm in applying per se rules to gatekeepers, based on cooperative-like mechanisms…
In light of recent information about new probes under the DMA and the DSA, and the growing interest in enforcement of the draft AI Act, we decided to explore what investigatory powers are available to the European Commission and local authorities under these regulations, and more specifically how the enforcing authorities can conduct dawn raids…
In a preliminary ruling issued on 14 March 2024, the District Court in Warsaw (DCW) granted Ceneo Ltd. an interim injunction in respect of non-monetary claims against Google Ireland Ltd. to cease acts of unfair competition on the Polish territory, consisting in the creation of market entry barriers for the plaintiff. This ruling precedes (temporarily…
Ever since its introduction in 2021, Section 19a of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen or “GWB”) has attracted attention, not only in Germany, but also around the globe. Through this provision, the national legislator strengthened the regulatory framework against potentially anti-competitive practices by specific market players, namely “undertakings of paramount…
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is set out as a complementary and separate regulatory instrument to EU competition law as well as to the application of national competition law provisions at the Member State level. In parallel, the regulation’s legal basis is Article 114 of the TFEU. Fragmentation in digital rulemaking was to be detached…
