Author: Damien Geradin
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There is much to like in the CMA Digital Markets Taskforce’s advice to the UK government on a pro-competition regime for digital markets
Yesterday, the Digital Markets Taskforce led by the CMA issued its advice (the “Advice”) regarding the setting of a pro-competition regime in digital markets in the UK, referred to as a Strategic Market Status (“SMS regime”). This Advice is a very rich document of 89 pages, accompanied by several Appendices. This post does not intend…
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Shall we see a scaled-down version of the New Competition Tool?
Yesterday, Commissioners Vestager and Breton confirmed via a funny tweet that the Commission’s proposal for a Digital Markets Act (DMA) and a Digital Services Act (DSA) will come out on 15 December, instead of 9 December as was originally scheduled. We will therefore have to be a bit more patient. The other DMA-related news was…
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The UK Government’s reponse to the CMA Market Study: Some good news with some remaining questions
In July 2020, the CMA published the Final Report of its Online Platforms and Digital Advertising Market Study, which recommended the adoption of a new pro-competition regulatory regime to govern the behaviour of major platforms funded by digital advertising, like Google and Facebook. I was very pleased with this report as it, among others, shed…
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Digital Markets Act: Why the CERRE Recommendations Paper gets it entirely right
A lot of things have been written about the Digital Markets Act, which will be proposed by the Commission on 9 December. In most cases, I agree with some of the recommendations made, while disagreeing with others. For the first time, however, I fully agree with a set of recommendations made by others, which is…
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Taming the big tech platforms: DG COMP’s remedy problem (as illustrated by the Google saga)
While the European Commission has often been hailed as the world’s fiercest antitrust enforcer for hanging down two major antitrust decisions against Google, i.e. the so-called Shopping and Android decisions, which were accompanied by hefty fines, the reality is that the companies harmed by Google’s behaviour are highly critical of these decisions given their lack…
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Apple reduces App Store commission for small developers: Shall we all be happy?
Apple has attracted significant regulatory attention for obliging iOS apps selling “digital goods or services” to use its payment solution In-App Purchase (IAP) to accept user payments and pay a related 30 % commission. Apple’s policy on in-app payments is at the core of the Commission’s ongoing investigation into Apple (following complaints by developers Spotify…
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Ex ante regulation of digital gatekeepers: Which institutional mechanisms?
Over the past few weeks, I have authored several blog posts (see here, here and here) on the Commission’s anticipated proposal for a Digital Markets Act, which would apparently comprise two pillars, i.e. ex ante regulation for so-called “digital gatekeepers” and the New Competition Tool. My posts shared some thoughts on the first of these…
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The Digital Markets Act : How should ex ante rules look like?
As we are now less than 6 weeks away from the expected publication by the Commission of its proposals on ex ante regulation for so-called “digital gatekeepers” and the New Competition Tool (“NCT”), rumours abound as to the exact scope and content of these proposals. What seems clear now is that the ex ante regulation…
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The U.S. v. Google: A preliminary analysis in ten points
Like many antitrust lawyers, yesterday I spent most of my evening reading the DoJ complaint against Google. Although I need to read again several parts, here is my preliminary analysis summarized in ten points: This is not a political case of the type some predicted. It has nothing to do with Google search being allegedly…
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What is a digital gatekeeper (Part 2)? The relevance of the single-homing v. multi-homing debate
As the Commission has announced that it will issue its proposal for ex ante regulation for so-called digital gatekeepers in the beginning of December, there are growing rumours about the form this regulation will take, the platforms that will be captured and the substantive rules that will be contained in this regulation. As to the…