The interest of National Competition Authorities (“NCAs”) in playing a prominent role in the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) is not new. Back in May 2021, the German, French and Dutch competition authorities published a “non-paper” entitled “Friends of an effective Digital Markets Act” containing several proposals to improve the DMA. This non-paper already defended strengthening the role of Member States, both in terms of enforcement and further modifications of the Act.
On 21 June 2021, the European Competition Network (“ECN”) published a joint paper drafted by the heads of the national competition authorities of the European Union. The ECN is the body through which NCAs of EU Member States and the European Commission organize their cooperation.
The paper raises several key considerations to support the idea that NCAs and DG Comp should play a prominent role in the enforcement of the DMA:
In very concrete terms, the ECN mainly advocates that the effective application of the DMA can only be achieved through:
Essentially, NCAs advocate for an enforcement framework of the DMA that is very similar to the one provided for the application of EU Competition law. Regulation 1/2003 and the ECN+ Directive are presented as a model for cooperation and coordination which should be transposed to the enforcement of the DMA.
NCAs clearly seek to take on a leading role as enforcers of a future DMA regulatory framework. However, the ECN’s joint paper makes no mention of a possible shared enforcement role with other national specialist regulatory agencies, such as data protection authorities. As suggested by Hein Hobbelen during his recent speaking engagement at the Florence Summer Competition Conference, specialist agencies should be given a seat at the DMA enforcers table. NCAs are limited in resources, and the involvement of specialist agencies will positively contribute to the effective enforcement of the DMA.
For more information please contact Hein Hobbelen, Samuel Berneman and Louis Delvaux.