Stéphanie Yon-Courtin welcomes the proposals on platform regulation while calling for pragmatism

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, rapporteur on the 2019 report on European competition policy, welcomes the European Commission's proposal on the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This proposal follows a request from the European Parliament in its annual report on competition policy. "As rapporteur, I have called for ex ante regulation of systematic platforms to overcome the limits of lengthy and costly antitrust procedures", says Stéphanie Yon-Courtin.

This ex ante regulation will impose obligations and prohibitions on the systemic platforms identified as gatekeepers when they constitute a necessary passage for any online activity. "In the maritime space, ports are gatekeepers and are regulated as such to prevent them from being able to block or impose abusive conditions on industry players. In the digital economy, we could not endorse anything else. Private players do not have to define their own rules, neither to their competitors, nor to public authorities, nor to consumers," explains the former international adviser to the former Chairman of the French Competition Authority.

The legal basis 114 TFEU will allow the co-decision procedure and the involvement of the European Parliament but could come up against the limits provided by the scope of this article of the Treaty.  "I am delighted that the Parliament will have a key role in this next regulation for the next 20 years and I hope that the urgency of the situation will allow a rapid agreement between MEPs and Member States", she said. "However, if we want flexible, sustainable and effective regulation, we will have to adapt our competition rules in parallel!” added the Vice-President of the ECON Committee.

The proposals are ambitious and place the European Union at the forefront of the field. Nevertheless, the Commission has revised its copy from its initial ambition to set up a New Competition Tool to monitor markets, investigate them and directly impose appropriate remedies. "Beyond a predefined list of prohibitions and obligations, we must ensure that digital markets are effectively monitored, with the necessary human resources and appropriate remedies. We need to embrace a comprehensive approach from competition to data power to consumer protection”.

 "These proposals will enable us to prevent rather than cure. This is an important paradigm shift. Competition is about stimulating innovation and ensuring consumer welfare, not variable geometry depending on the nationality of companies," the MEP replies to critics of an anti-GAFA arsenal.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown that digital transformation is no longer an opportunity but a necessity. "The European Parliament is ready to work on this proposal. We are not sanctioning success, innovation or having achieved a dominant position, but behaviours that are detrimental to competition. We need to restore online fairness as soon as possible and put in place the necessary means to achieve it," concludes the shadow rapporteur on the new annual report on competition policy.