MEPs on the Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) debated compromise amendments to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) texts on Wednesday 27 October.
In the area of digital markets, there is still much debate on several issues. Thus, while a large majority of MEPs stressed the importance of controlling ‘fake interfaces’ - designed to deceive consumers - other issues remain unresolved.
The members of the IMCO committee are divided on the type of gatekeepers affected by the regulation. For S&D, “the rapporteur’s proposals are not acceptable”, said Evelyne Gebhardt (Germany).
For his group, the fact that a gatekeeper must control two service providers to qualify as a gatekeeper is “problematic”. “This would exclude ‘gatekeepers’ who are only linked to one access provider. Think of Booking or AirBnB, which would no longer be affected”, she said.
In addition to definitions, MEPs also called for further work on the key issues of interoperability and targeted advertising. On this last point - and the issue affects both the DMA and the DSA - there are still differences of opinion.
Some groups, such as The Left, call for a ban on this type of advertising, while the EPP sees it as a way for small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU to reach their customers. Others, such as the Greens/EFA Group, argue for its deactivation by default, with the final choice being left to the users.
Need for extra time
As regards digital services, the number of points still under discussion seems at least as great. In addition to targeted advertising, MEPs also returned to the issue of illegal content and its management.
While some MEPs called for holding platforms at least partly responsible for hosting illegal content, others opposed it.
“Small platforms will never be able to comply with the rules”, said Arba Kokalari (EPP, Sweden).
On both texts, a large majority of MEPs stressed the number of issues still open to debate and the need for more time.
“For the DSA, we have so far covered only six articles. We did not reach a compromise, we only ‘covered’”, said Dita Charanzová (Renew Europe, Czech Republic).
“We need one more week and I ask you to take into account the concessions made by the other groups. This proposal will attract political and legal criticism. It has to be solid, because it will be contested. And if we have provisions that can be challenged in court, we will have a problem”, insisted the rapporteur of the DMA text, Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany).
The DSA and the DMA were initially scheduled to be voted on in the IMCO committee, which is responsible for both dossiers, on 8 November.
The deadline has been postponed to a later date. The vote could take place on 22 November, a source close to the matter told EUROPE.
This deadline, the same source explained, would make it possible to maintain the timetable for a European Parliament vote at the December plenary session. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)