The Digital Markets Act – Key Enforcement Principles

With remarkable speed, the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) completed the legislative process, entered into force and will become applicable as early as May 2024. It is a new regulatory ex ante tool that is different from and complementary to competition law. Its goal is to ensure that digital markets characterized by the presence of gatekeepers are contestable and fair for all businesses in the EU. Companies that might be designated as gatekeepers or that could benefit from the obligations that the DMA imposes on gatekeepers are well advised to familiarize themselves with the text. Companies that offer core platform services must self-assess whether they meet the DMA’s quantitative thresholds, which triggers a notification obligation. The qualitative thresholds have a strong presumptive effect that can only be rebutted in exceptional circumstances. Once designated, gatekeepers bear the responsibility to comply with the directly applicable obligations that the DMA imposes on them within six months. The Commission is available to discuss specific compliance proposals. It will involve market participants in order to ensure effective compliance.  

By Linsey McCallum, Antoine Babinet & Gunnar Wolf^[1]

I. INTRODUCTION

The Digital Markets Act (“DMA”),^[2] the EU’s new regulatory tool to tackle the most pressing challenges to contestability and fairness raised by large digital platforms, has moved quickly through the legislative process to take its final shap