EU set new rules to prevent abuses of large platforms in the digital sector
After a meeting of almost nine hours, the European Union and the Twenty-seven reached an agreement to put an end to the abusive practices of large digital platforms on small firms
The negotiators of the European Union (EU) and the Twenty-seven reached an agreement last morning on the new Digital Markets Law (DMA) with which they intend to curb the abusive practices of large digital platforms that make be worth its weight to limit competition from other smaller firms.
The new legislation will apply to technology companies that operate in the European market and have a market capitalization of at least 75,000 million euros or an annual turnover of 7.5 million, have a traffic of at least 45,000 million active users per month and provide “basic service” as a platform.
Large technology companies should be fairer with their powers
“We want fair markets also for the digital sector“, defended the vice president of the European Commission responsible for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, to explain the need for rules against “large platforms that act as access controllers and prevent companies and consumers from taking party of competitive digital markets’.
Under the new rules, these controllers or “gatekeepers”, such as Google, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft or Apple, will have to assume a series of “do’s and don’ts” to ensure fair competition.
They must be interoperable with the smaller messaging platforms if they request it, so that they can exchange messages, send files or make video calls with all the applications to ensure a wider offer.
The EU may sanction offending firms
The new law also provides that the European Commission can impose penalties of up to 10% of the global turnover of the non-compliant company in the previous year. The fine may rise up to 20% in case of recidivism.
In case of systematic infringement, the Community Executive may also prevent the offending platform from buying other companies for a certain period.
🚨 ÚLTIMA HORA 🚨
Tenemos un acuerdo sobre la Ley de Mercados Digitales❗️👏
¡Tras cerca de 8 horas 🇪🇺 los legisladores han conseguido llegar a un acuerdo provisional! https://t.co/3gSEV4zkG1— Parlamento Europeo en España (@Europarl_ES) March 24, 2022
Source: doblellave
