It is now done. Presented a year ago now, the European Parliament has just given its approval for the adoption of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This text will allow Europe and national regulators to sanction and impose obligations on web giants, the aim being to prevent anti-competitive behavior.
In December 2020, Europe presented its plan to fight GAFAM. It will consist of two new laws: the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The objective of these two texts is simple: limit the hegemony of multinationals on the Old Continent, prevent them from engaging in anti-competitive practices and abuse of a dominant position, allow the development of competition, and sanction them effectively in the event of breaches.
However, this Wednesday, December 15, 2021, a year later, the European Parliament finally comes to give its approval for the adoption of DMA. Elected officials approved the text with 642 votes in favor, 8 against while 46 abstained. With the DMA, the EU is equipping itself with a new weapon against GAFAM, which will in particular make it possible to offer a fairer, more open and more competitive market.
With DMA, the European Union targets the major web platformswhether they are social networks, search engines, operating systems, online intermediation services, online advertising services, cloud storage, or video sharing services. You will understand that Twitch, Amazon, Meta (formerly Facebook), Tiktok, Microsoft and Google are the main companies targeted by this device.
Parliament strengthens the prerogatives of the DMA
Moreover, MEPs recently extended the scope of the text, now including web browsers, connected televisions and virtual assistants. With DMA, GAFAM will no longer be able to collect data from partner companies, a practice that had criticized Amazon. Preventing abuses of a dominant position is also the ambition of the DMA. There is much to do in this area, as evidenced by the recent fines imposed on Amazon and Apple for similar facts.
Note, however, that the European Parliament wished to make some changes to the original version of the DMA proposed by the European Commission. Indeed, he took the opportunity to strengthen its prerogatives and above all increase the penalties incurred by companies. In the event of violation of the DMA, the companies risked until then a fine of up to 10% of their worldwide turnover achieved during the previous financial year. From now on, this percentage rises to 20% maximum. In other words, the web giants could face fines of tens of billions of dollars.
As the DMA has been approved by the European Parliament, all that remains is to have it applied in the various Member States. Discussions and negotiations on this subject should start in the first half of 2022, while France will sit at the presidency of the European Council. “Today, there is an urgent need to act to modernize the rules relating to the functioning of digital markets in order to prevent unfair practices and behavior within the European Union ”, ensures the Secretary of State in charge of Digital Cédric O.
