On Thursday 8 January, the European Commission published a summary of the contributions received to the consultation on the revision of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), launched last July (see EUROPE 13673/16). The responses from the direct competitors of major digital companies (such as Apple, Google and Meta) are clear: in their view, the Commission has failed to apply the DMA rigorously since it was introduced.
Competitors who responded to the consultation criticised “slow processes, lack of transparency, circumvention of rules, delaying tactics by ‘gatekeepers’ and user interface designs that compromise freedom of choice”, according to the report.
Other points in the DMA have been criticised, such as the gatekeeper designation process, which is considered too inadequate for services such as cloud computing or for coping with the exponential development of artificial intelligence.
Some responses also pointed to an application deemed too lax in areas such as self-preference (see EUROPE 13697/15), data sharing obligations, interoperability (see EUROPE 13715/11) and advertising markets (see EUROPE 13630/8).
Unsurprisingly, the issue of sanctions and fines polarised reactions (see EUROPE 13725/23). While the direct competitors of the major gatekeepers argue that the fines imposed to date have been too low to deter infringements, the gatekeepers themselves argue in favour of “proportionate fines, based solely on revenue earned in the EU and only for deliberate or repeated infringements”, according to the report.
The DMA, like the DSA (Digital Services Act), is under repeated attack from major US digital companies. Apple simply called for it to be scrapped last September (see EUROPE 13717/5). Despite the Act’s launch with great fanfare, which saw five investigations opened in a single salvo on 25 March 2024 (see EUROPE 13378/8), followed by a sixth three months later (see EUROPE 13438/15), it took the Commission more than a year to impose the first sanctions. Last April, Apple and Meta were fined €500 million and €200 million respectively (see EUROPE 13626/2).
Over 450 contributions were submitted. The assessment of these contributions will be incorporated into the Commission’s evaluation report, which will be presented to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU by 3 May 2026.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/k74 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)