The Digital Markets Act, or regulation on digital markets, comes into force this Wednesday March 6 in France and throughout the European Union. “This regulation aims to guarantee more equitable and open digital markets by forcing digital giants to a certain number of new obligations and prohibitions” according to Bercy.
What is the regulation on digital markets?
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulates the economic activity of large digital platforms within the European Union. It was voted on, with the DSA, in July 2022.
EU authorities consider that these digital giants are today a necessary step for users of digital services, but also for other companies wishing to offer digital services. It is this situation of quasi-monopoly that the regulation wishes to regulate.
The objective is therefore to force large digital companies to respect the rules. And these rules must allow users to:
- Benefit from a greater choice of services
- Benefit from better quality services
- To have more possibilities to change supplier if they wish
- To have direct access to digital services
- Benefit from fairer prices
Which companies are affected?
Only companies that are designated as “Gatekeepers” by the European Commission are subject to the obligations provided for by the Digital Markets Regulation.
On September 6, 2023, the European Commission designated six companies:
- Alphabet (Google, Chrome, Android, Youtube)
- Amazon
- Apple (iOS, Safari, App Store)
- ByteDance (TikTok)
- Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger)
- Microsoft (Windows, LinkedIn)
How were the access controllers selected?
The selection of these companies was made according to three criteria:
- A significant weight in Europe: these companies have had an annual turnover in the European Economic Area of at least €7.5 billion in each of the last three financial years. They also provide “an essential platform service in at least three Member States”.
- Control of a major access point that allows other businesses to reach end consumers: These gatekeepers have more than 45 million active end users every month in the EU and an average of more than 10,000 professionals per year.
- Have a solid and lasting position: the selected companies have had the previous criteria for three years.
What are the obligations for access controllers to respect?
The regulation imposes around twenty obligations and prohibitions.
Access controllers must in particular:
- Allow users to easily unsubscribe and uninstall services, software and applications
- Do not impose default software on the installation of the operating system
- Enable major email services to be interoperable with others
On the other hand, they can no longer:
- Preinstall certain software applications
- Favor their own products or services on their platforms over other sellers
- Reuse personal data collected during one service for the needs of another service, without effective consent from the user having been given
- Require application developers to use certain services to be listed in application stores
Are access controllers compliant with DMA rules as of March 6, 2024?
Normally yes.
After their designation in September 2023, the access controllers had a period of six months to comply with all the obligations provided for by the DMA, and provide a compliance report indicating the solutions put in place to comply with it.
Microsoft, for example, announced in November 2023 that it would modify certain products and services to comply. For its part, Apple is trying to do the same, but with a certain vagueness.
What happens if the rules are not respected?
For non-compliance with the DMA, the European Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of the company’s total global turnover, with the fine rising to 20% for repeat violations.
In the event of a systematic infringement, the Commission may also adopt additional corrective measures.
DSA and DMA, what are the differences?
The Digital Services Regulation (DSA) and the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA) are two complementary texts aimed at regulating the digital space. Objective: better protect users and establish fair rules within the European Union. Here’s how to understand the DSA.