U.S. Chamber: EU’s Digital Markets Act Prioritizes Regulation Over Innovation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Chamber Senior Vice President of International Regulatory Affairs & Antitrust Sean Heather issued the following statement ahead of the March 7 implementation of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA): 
“The Digital Markets Act (DMA) prioritizes regulation over innovation. This regulation ends up managing competition rather than promoting it, potentially stifling the emergence of future competitors. Under the DMA, ‘gatekeepers’ will be required to provide better terms of access to their platform. This will likely lead to these firms becoming more essential, not less. “Further, if the DMA remedies imposed on select gatekeepers are so good for competition it could be argued that all platforms should operate in a similar manner. Surely, good regulatory design would demand that regulation apply to all market participants, not just a handful of select companies. Logically, the EU’s requiring favorable access to all platforms arguably would be of even greater benefit to businesses reliant on them to reach customers. “Moreover, some EU officials over the last two years have pledged that European companies would be captured, yet that hasn’t happened – and others have explicitly called for targeting American firms. This raises concerns about whether the DMA violates the EU’s non-discriminatory trade obligations. The truth is that applying such remedies across more businesses would result in Europe rethinking the virtues of the DMA. “The EU has a failed track record of remedies as part of its ex-post approach to competition enforcement. Unfortunately, the DMA marks the beginning of an era of failed ex-ante enforcement. Europe cannot regulate its way to a more innovative economy.”