The Credibility of the DMA’s Compliance Reports
Keywords:
Digital Markets Act, Compliance Reports, Core Platform Services, Gatekeepers, Digital Regulation, Deterrence, Enforcement, European Commission, Digital PlatformsAbstract
The institutional setting of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828, OJ L 265, 12 October 2022.) reverses the rationale of the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, OJ C 326, 26 October 2012.) to make profound changes in digital business models. The deterrencebased framework gives way to an instrument based on cooperative engagement between private and public actors. Private undertakings, termed as gatekeepers, bear the burden of submitting compliance reports to the European Commission detailing their technical implementation of the regulation.
Following the compliance reports submitted by the seven gatekeepers in 2024, the paper seeks to clarify their role as stemming from their practical significance. To do that, the paper sets out the legal framework and requirements surrounding the submissions of those compliance reports. The paper then maps out the gatekeeper’s compliance strategies and meters them against the benchmark of their credibility. By doing so, the paper considers a nuanced perspective of the procedural yardstick the enforcer should apply in its future enforcement actions.
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