During an exchange of views with Internal Market Committee (IMCO) MEPs on Monday 4 May, European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said she is on the same page as European Parliament rapporteur Alex Saliba (S&D, Malta) with regard to the forthcoming Digital Services Act. The discussion between rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs that was to follow did not take place due to lack of time.
“The rules of the game are those of a normal marketplace: products must be safe. What’s true offline must also be true online”, said Margrethe Vestager, quoting Alex Saliba’s draft report.
A concise and closed list of obligations
The Dane, who is both Vice-President in charge of the digital agenda and Competition Commissioner, revisited the idea of ex-ante rules to ensure that markets characterised by large ‘gatekeeper’ platforms remain fair and open to competition. In her view, it may be necessary to provide for additional criteria such as “a concise and closed list of dos and don’ts”, indicating, for example, that a gatekeeper platform cannot promote itself or that it has obligations if the market has tipped.
In addition to ensuring the enforcement of the current competition rules, she also raised the idea of new competition tools, in cases where Articles 101 and 102 TFEU do not allow for action, to prevent the market from tipping over. “This issue is not limited to the digital sector, but it’s all the more obvious here that a market can tip”, she said.
Committee discussion cancelled
The debate on the Digital Services Act was expected to continue after the discussion with Mrs Vestager, but it was cancelled due to lack of time. The rapporteur for the IMCO committee, Alex Saliba (S&D, Malta), briefly recalled the key points of his report, which focuses on a comprehensive review of the e-commerce directive while safeguarding key principles such as the internal market clause, the prohibition of generalised surveillance obligations, and the exemption from liability for illegal content online (see EUROPE 12477/12). He also reiterated his support for a clarification of the notification and action procedure. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)