Start of the Digital Markets Act: Economic Affairs Ministry launches consultation on experience with digital platforms

On 12 October 2022, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) was published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will thus soon enter into force. In the DMA, the European Union has laid down strict competition rules for large digital platforms. To ensure that the new rules can be fully effective, business and civil society have the possibility to report to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action via the email address DMA@bmwk.bund.de  conduct of large digital players which the European Commission should primarily prohibit in the DMA. The Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) will support the European Commission in this process. The Economic Affairs Ministry therefore invites you for a limited period of time to submit comments via the email address DMA@bmwk.bund.de. You can find more information here on the Ministry’s website.

State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Sven Giegold said: "After the adoption of the Digital Markets Act, key rules on fair digital markets will now enter into force. As a consequence, the large platform companies will in future be subject to clear and strict rules and they will no longer be able to set the rules of the game all by themselves. For too long, digital giants have been dominating the market, making it virtually impossible for new competitors to gain a foothold. Companies which have been active on the platforms have repeatedly been confronted with unfair rules. To make sure that the European Commission can focus on particularly frequent or particularly serious violations when it comes to enforcing the new rules, we ask for your support so that small and medium-sized enterprises and consumers can benefit as soon as possible. We have launched a call for comments asking parties concerned to report on their negative experience with large digital firms with the aim to forbid the respective practices in accordance with the Digital Markets Act."

The EU regulation forming the Digital Markets Act is the first of its kind. As a new instrument designed to promote competition in platform markets, the DMA provides for a code of conduct for large digital companies. Previously, only Germany had adopted similar rules in its ARC (Act against Restraints of Competition) Digitisation Act, which entered into force in 2021. The Federal Government has successfully championed a rigorous DMA. Fair competition on digital markets and between digital and traditional business models is one of the priorities of the competition-policy agenda of the Economic Affairs Ministry.

The rules of the DMA apply directly. As soon as the European Commission has designated a company as gatekeeper, the company concerned must comply with all obligations regarding the respective services at the latest after the expiry of the transposition deadline. The latter  will be monitored by the European Commission. In view of the many conduct obligations and the expected number of gatekeepers, this is a complex task. In an initial phase, this can best be achieved if the European Commission gives special attention to practices which may constitute particularly frequent or particularly serious violations against the DMA once the DMA enters into force and the companies concerned have been named. In order to identify such areas and conduct, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action wants to draw on the rich experience of companies and the relevant associations, experts, academia, and not least consumers and consumer protection organisations.