The European Commission does not intend to “make an enemy” to implement digital regulations, European competition committee chairman Teresa Rivera said at an event held in Brussels on Wednesday, hosted by the Centre for Global Competition Law and the University of Europe.
“We want to make friends, not enemies, but we think it’s important to respect the law, the people, the operators,” the commissioner said.
The European Commission fined Apple and META last Wednesday, April 23rd, drawing sharp responses from both companies signaling plans to appeal the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple was fined 500 million euros for limiting communication with consumers and limiting developers’ ability to direct them to alternative offer channels.
Meta was fined 200 million euros in the “salary or consent” advertising model. This allegedly violated the DMA by forcing users to agree to targeted ads or pay a subscription.
The tech giant argues that the EU’s regulatory approach is discriminatory and that the regulations are caught up in trade tensions between Brussels and Washington.
Rivera said the committee is not aiming to escalate intercontinental tensions.
“Enforcing competition in tools and regulations in the digital market is key to ensuring fair tech play on a large scale. Without it, small businesses can’t compete and innovate,” Rivera said.
She said fines are a “last resort” as the scope of DMA is to create a “culture of compliance” through dialogue and a “culture of compliance” that includes Outlook and Booking.com.
“We also closed out the Outlook user selection survey thanks to constructive dialogue and changes implemented by Outlook last week. As a result, European Union consumers have a better option to choose their default browser, allowing them to change the default settings for calls, messaging, keyboards, and some of the different pre-installed apps, such as the App Store and Saphire Interline Process.
Ribera cited the Booking.com research as a second example. This ultimately prevents Booking.com from preventing hotels from offering cheap products on other websites.
EU Merger Act
Rivera also outlined the European Commission’s direction on the EU merger regulations.
She said that while the merger management rules are designed to remain competitive worldwide, the EU is trying to engage in a call for a new European champion.
Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s EU Competitiveness Report has promoted the need to curb truly harmful mergers, while avoiding obstacles that could hinder the emergence of “European champions” that can compete on a global scale.
EU executives are beginning to explore ways to move in this direction.
“We are supporting mergers that will truly contribute to innovation and technological advances,” the commissioner said.
“I’ve heard of European champions, but I can’t focus on the players rather than sacrificing competition,” Rivera said.
“This is what we intend to amend guidelines for evaluating both horizontal and conglomerate mergers so that the intensity of innovation, resilience and investment competition in a particular strategic sector is given sufficient weight in light of the keen needs of the European economy,” the committee member said.
Over the next few weeks, the Commission will hold extensive consultations on subjects between stakeholders and industry sectors.
