Abstract
The European Commission has published its draft Digital Markets Act (DMA) which aims to broadly reform the digital sector and bring more fairness and contestability. The DMA targets only the most influential and powerful online platforms designated as so-called "digital gatekeepers".
The proposal sets out objective criteria for companies that offer "core platform services" which, if met, raise the rebuttable presumption that the company operates as a gatekeeper. Online platforms that fall under the scope of digital gatekeepers need to abide asymmetric (compared to other platforms) obligations related to identified practices.
The European Commision would be able to impose significant fines for non-compliance with the possibility of repeat offenders being required to divest parts of their business. The DMA would also allow the EC to conduct market investigations to enable it to keep the gatekeeper criteria and obligations updated dynamically and to design remedies to tackle systematic infringements of the DMA rules.