Brussels, BELGIUM – Ahead of the first anniversary of the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) this Friday, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) issued the following statement to highlight significant concerns about the regulation’s impact. The DMA’s obligations took effect for the first designated ‘gatekeepers’ on 7 March 2024.
Over the past year, it has become increasingly evident that the DMA and its enforcement suffer from structural flaws – such as excessive compliance solutions that degrade services for consumers, obligations that force businesses to build with limitations, as well as a politicised focus on implementing unclear rules.
The following can be attributed to Senior Vice President and Head of CCIA Europe, Daniel Friedlaender:
“Rather than adopting policies that penalise companies for being ‘too successful,’ the European Union should prioritise stimulating home-grown innovation positively, helping start-ups grow and scale up, and attracting tech talent and investment from abroad.”
“CCIA Europe firmly believes EU regulations should be fair and non-discriminatory. In recent years, however, various senior EU officials and lawmakers have publicly alluded to the fact that EU digital regulations – and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in particular – were designed to target specific companies or shield legacy industries.”
“This has undermined trust in Europe’s rulemaking. Issues such as disproportionate – or even politically driven – enforcement of laws like the DMA have rightly raised red flags.”
“The new European Commission has a chance to show that EU digital rules can be applied fairly – without discrimination based on nationality or a company’s size – and to refrain from using the DMA as a political tool.”
“The DMA process has created potentially harmful tradeoffs that Europe is only now beginning to untangle. It’s time to review, rather than launch into damaging and politicised actions that will pull Europe backwards and harm our digital competitiveness.”
CCIA Europe underlines that clear and effective implementation of the DMA is essential for ensuring fair, contestable digital markets, and fostering innovation in Europe. This should be the focus of the European Commission moving forward.
