Margaret vestag, executive vice president of the European Commission, announced at the international competition network (ICN) meeting last week that the EU's goal is to implement the digital market law (DMA) in the spring of 2023. Vestag previously said that this anti-monopoly legislation has introduced a set of new rules to curb the power of large technology companies, which can be implemented as early as October this year.
"DMA will take effect next spring, and once we receive the first notification, we will start to prepare for implementation," vestager said in ICN's speech. As techcrunch pointed out, vestager hinted that the committee would be prepared to deal with "gatekeepers" - including meta and [Apple] immediately after the law came into force( https://apple.pvxt.net/c/1251234/435400/7639?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.apple.com%2Fcn%2Fmusic%2F ) Take action against any violations by large technology companies, including, Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
"Delaying the enforcement of DMA can give the Committee more time to prepare"
DMA still needs the final approval of the Council and Parliament. It defines gatekeeper as a company with a market value of more than 75 billion euros ($82 billion) and a social platform or application with at least 45 million users per month. If these entities are found to have violated the rules of DMA, they may face a fine of "10% of the total global turnover of the previous fiscal year", which may be increased to 20% if they commit it again.
According to DMA regulations, gatekeepers will have three months to declare their identity to the Commission, followed by a two month waiting period to obtain confirmation from the EU. This waiting period, coupled with the delayed DMA implementation, may mean that we will not begin to see close combat between the EU and major technology companies before the end of 2023.
"This next chapter is exciting. It means a lot of specific preparations," vestag explained. "It's about establishing a new structure within the Committee... It's about recruiting staff. It's about preparing it systems. It's about drafting further legal texts on procedures or notification forms. Our team is currently busy with all these preparations, and our goal is to launch the new structure soon."
Delaying the implementation of DMA can give the Commission more time to prepare, but if the European Commission cannot solve any major violations between now and the time when DMA becomes law, the delay may lead to criticism of "poor work".
Once the bill is implemented, DMA may disrupt the business model commonly used by the world's technology giants. First, it may require apple to start allowing users to download apps (i.e. "sideloading") from places other than the app store, an idea Apple CEO cook has long strongly opposed because he believes sideloading could "destroy" iPhone Security. DMA may also require WhatsApp and IMessage to communicate with small platforms. This policy may make it more difficult for WhatsApp to maintain the status of end-to-end encryption.