EPC welcomes finalization of trialogue negotiations on a Digital Markets Act that aims to curtail the market dominance of the gatekeeper platforms and restore competition
Last night, EU negotiators concluded their trialogue negotiations on the Digital Markets Act. The European Publishers Council (EPC) commends the effort of all negotiators to find compromises and looks forward to the official adoption of this flagship legislation that aims to curtail the market dominance of the gatekeeper platforms and oblige these gatekeepers to provide publishers with access to their platforms and core services on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
Angela Mills Wade, EPC Executive Director said: “Because gatekeepers and their core platform services, including browsers, play such a key role in the visibility, findability and distribution of press and media content across the internet, we welcome agreement that not only app stores but search engines and social networks must also provide access to their business users including publishers on fair and reasonable terms - terms they must publish and be accountable for, and where they must provide a mechanism for solving any disagreements”.
The obligations enshrined in Articles 5 & 6, the most important articles of the Regulation, have been extended and clarified to a large extent thereby creating fair and non-discriminatory conditions of access to core platform services. The EPC had pushed strongly for the DMA to be a comprehensive instrument applying to all core platform services. However, we do welcome the compromise to extend 6(1)(k) to outlaw harmful practices perpetrated not only by the app stores, but also the gatekeeping social networks, and search engines.
Angela explained: “We are confident that the DMA will provide practical solutions by setting the ground rules to make it clear that gatekeepers cannot continue their harmful practices which harm publishers in the online ecosystem. The agreement reached by the negotiators reflects the political vision required to set boundaries for gatekeeping platforms that also preserves our diverse and innovative media landscape.”
Finally, the EPC welcomes the agreement that the DMA obligations should be sufficiently flexible to be applicable to emerging as well as existing gatekeepers.
Angela concluded: “We welcome the improvements on this front whereby web browsers and virtual assistants have been rightly included in the list of core platform services. Web browsers act as a gateway to media content as well as to gatekeepers’ advertising ecosystems, and virtual assistants are the emerging gateways between end-users and businesses. We believe that strong Enforcement by the European Commission should be guaranteed, and we welcome the European Parliament’s commitment to ensure they have adequate resources to allow the DMA to fulfil its promise to ensure contestability and fairness in digital markets for the sake of our independent free press and fair business practice everywhere.”