The European Commission does not intend to “make enemies” with the implementation of its digital regulations, the European Commissioner for competition said on Wednesday, Teresa Ribera during an event in Brussels organized by the Global competition Law Center and the College of Europe.
“We want to make friends, not enemies, but we think it is important to respect the law, people and operators,” said the commissioner.
The European Commission inflicted a fine on Apple and the meta last Wednesday, April 23, for having violated the law on digital markets (DMA), drawing net responses from the two companies which reported plans to call.
Apple was sentenced to a fine of 500 million euros to restrict the ability of developers to communicate with consumers and direct them to alternative tenders.
Meta was sentenced to a fine of 200 million euros for its “salary or consent” advertising model, which, according to the Commission, violates the DMA by forcing users to consent to targeted advertising or paying a subscription.
Technology giants claim that the EU's regulatory approach is discriminatory, and the regulations were involved in trade tensions between Brussels and Washington.
Ribera said the Commission was not intended to intensify intercontinental tensions.
“The application of our competition in tools and regulations on digital markets is essential to ensure that large technologies games fairly. Without it, small businesses cannot compete, cannot innovate,” said Ribera.
She said that fines are a “last resort”, because the scope of the DMA is to create a “culture of conformity” by dialogue, citing cases involving Outlook and Booking.com, where fines have been avoided thanks to compliance plans.
“Last week, thanks to the constructive dialogue and the modifications implemented by Outlook, we also closed the survey on the choice of Outlook users.
Ribera cited the investigation into Booking.com as a second example, which finally led Booking.com to no longer prevent hotels from offering cheaper products on other websites.
EU merger laws
Ribera also described the orientation of the European Commission on the EU merger rules.
She said that although mergers' control rules are designed to maintain global competitiveness, the EU will seek to engage with calls for new European champions.
The EU competitiveness report of former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi presented the need to limit truly harmful mergers, while avoiding obstacles that could hinder the emergence of “European champions” capable of competing worldwide.
The EU executive is starting to explore means to move in this direction.
ADVERTISEMENT“We support the mergers that improve the global position of Europe and really contribute to innovation, to technological progress,” said the commissioner.
“We have heard European champions, but we do not let the players concentrate at all costs, not at the expense of the competition,” said Ribera.
“This is why we intend to revise our guidelines to assess horizontal and conglomeratory mergers so that innovation, resilience and intensity of investment in competition in certain strategic sectors have adequate weight in the light of the treble of the European economy,” said the commissioner.
In the coming weeks, the European Commission will have a large consultation on the subject with stakeholders and the industrial sector.
ADVERTISEMENT