Tag: ex ante regulation

Fashionably late:  The UK digital markets legislation starts its passage through Parliament

More than four years after the Furman Report, the British Government has laid its Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill before Parliament.  However, what is perhaps more remarkable than the delays is how closely the Bill sticks to the CMA’s original recommendations. One can always quibble over some of the drafting, but overall this is … Continue reading Fashionably late:  The UK digital markets legislation starts its passage through Parliament →

Into Uncharted Waters – Making sense of the CAT’s Apple/CMA judgment

In November last year, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) started a market investigation into the supply of web browsers and browser engines on mobile devices, and the distribution of cloud gaming services through app stores on mobile devices. However, Apple appealed the CMA’s decision to make a market investigation reference (MIR) in the … Continue reading Into Uncharted Waters – Making sense of the CAT’s Apple/CMA judgment →

Interview with Tom Fish, Head of public policy and research at Gener8, and formerly Assistant Director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority

Tom Smith, Geradin Partners: November 2022 was an important month for the UK’s efforts to curb the power of big tech. The Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement that the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill will be introduced into parliament in the 3rd parliamentary session (it is currently rumoured to be scheduled for April … Continue reading Interview with Tom Fish, Head of public policy and research at Gener8, and formerly Assistant Director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority →

Making sense of NCAs’ roles under the DMA – The Dutch proposal

In the run-up to the enactment of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Commission strongly defended its exclusive jurisdiction to enforce it. Despite valiant efforts on the part of several national competition authorities (NCAs) who wanted a formal role enforcing the new rules, the Commission’s exclusive competence remains largely in place in the … Continue reading Making sense of NCAs’ roles under the DMA – The Dutch proposal →

Platform antitrust/regulation in 2023: Our eleven predictions

Happy New Year to all! The authors of this blog wish you the best for what will be a thrilling year for those interested in platforms. It has never been more exciting to operate in the tech space. To start the new year, we have put our heads together to make eleven predictions about 2023. … Continue reading Platform antitrust/regulation in 2023: Our eleven predictions →

Full steam ahead for the UK Digital Markets Unit

UK politics has been in a parlous state. Today the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer attempted to stabilize the country’s finances by announcing some eye-watering tax rises and spending cuts in the Autumn Statement. However, of more relevance to readers of this blog, he also made a significant announcement about the legislation required to implement … Continue reading Full steam ahead for the UK Digital Markets Unit →

Why it is now clear that the Australian ex ante regime will be much closer to the proposed UK regime than the EU Digital Markets Act

On 11 November 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) released the fifth interim report for the Digital Platform Services inquiry (the “Interim Report”). This report recommends a range of new measures to address harms from digital platforms to Australian consumers, small businesses and competition. The diagnostic of the ACCC is not different from … Continue reading Why it is now clear that the Australian ex ante regime will be much closer to the proposed UK regime than the EU Digital Markets Act →

The DMA has been published: Now the real challenges start

The Digital Market Act (“DMA”) has been published today. It is a remarkable instrument in many ways. Since the publication of the Commission proposal in December 2020, it took less than 1.5 years for the Council and the Parliament to agree on the final text. The supersonic adoption of the DMA was due to several … Continue reading The DMA has been published: Now the real challenges start →

Embracing rather than fighting digital regulation: Microsoft’s vision for the future

Yesterday, I attended a presentation by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President and Vice-Chair, at an event organised by Brussels think tank Bruegel. I have listened to Brad Smith a few times in the past, but yesterday he was really at his best. He is a truly impressive public speaker and I liked the message he was … Continue reading Embracing rather than fighting digital regulation: Microsoft’s vision for the future →

The UK’s Digital Markets Unit: we’re not making any progress, but we promise we will “in due course”

In the UK’s slow journey towards its Digital Markets Unit (“DMU”) regime, the Government has published its formal response to last summer’s consultation document (the “Response Document”). We now know that the necessary legislation will not be included in the next session of Parliament, and therefore will not be enacted within the next year, but … Continue reading The UK’s Digital Markets Unit: we’re not making any progress, but we promise we will “in due course” →