The EU’s digital market has been growing rapidly over the past decade, creating new jobs and opportunities for consumers. Concerns about the power of technology giants over competition and the role of digital platforms in online markets have negatively impacted the free flow of data within the digital ecosystem. Due to these concerns two new laws were drafted, including a Digital Markets Act (DMA) and a Digital Services Act (DSA), which are expected to be adopted by the end of this year.
The DMA will set out proportionate ex-ante obligations for platforms with significant market power to ensure fair and open competition in digital markets. There are three key goals that the DSA seeks to achieve, including building trust and confidence in online markets by increasing transparency, reinforcing equal responsibilities among all players in the value chain, and lastly protecting users from illegal content. “The digital world has developed into a Wild West, with the biggest and strongest setting the rules. But there is a new sheriff in town, the DSA,” says MEP Christel Schaldemose, rapporteur for the DSA.
The EU’s digital market is the largest in the world, accounting for 10% of global GDP. In 2016 alone, the EU created over 6 million new jobs in its digital sector. The European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy has been an important driver of this growth: it aims to put customers first and ensure that they have access to a wide range of goods and services online wherever they are based in Europe.
The European Commission has therefore decided to adopt a new policy framework that better protects people’s fundamental rights online, including privacy, while at the same time allowing for European companies to remain competitive and innovative.
A decade ago, the European Union’s digital economy was a small contributor to overall GDP. Today, it accounts for over half of Europe’s economic growth and is growing faster than any other part of the economy. A number of countries have seen their share of online consumers grow exponentially over the past few years—with Ireland alone adding more than 1 million new users since 2018.
This rapid growth has raised concerns that big technology companies may be controlling too much of our lives, both online and offline.
The DMA will be a set of rules that will be applied to big tech companies in order to increase transparency between operators and users, as well as enhance fair competition.
The Digital Single Market (DSM) aims to create a single market for digital services and products. The goal is to increase transparency between operators and users, strengthen equal competition, and protect users from illegal content.
These new laws would apply equally across all EU countries, meaning that online platforms such as Google or Facebook could not be held responsible for the content of third parties if they are based outside the EU.
The upcoming legislation will set out rules for big tech companies in order to increase transparency between operators and users, as well as enhance fair competition. The move is part of a larger effort to address concerns that U.S.-based technology giants are taking advantage of their dominant position in the market.
The EU’s Digital Single Market strategy aims to create a single online market across Europe, with similar consumer protections, laws and regulations across the 28 member states. The European Commission said on Tuesday it would present proposals by June 2020 to regulate online platforms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.
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