The Interplay Between The DMA And The AVMS Directive

Amidst a series of other initiatives in the area of platform regulation, preparations for the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) are well underway. The Commission is informally meeting with interested stakeholders in order to gather information about specific services and practices that should be covered by the DMA. Companies that meet the DMA thresholds are working on their notification and compliance strategies while some of those companies are also certainly preparing a rebuttal. 

The effective implementation of the DMA is no easy task. The DMA’s “dos” and “don’ts”, including the “self-executing” obligations it establishes, raise complex interpretation challenges facing the Commission, which must be well-resourced to ensure that the gatekeepers’ compliance plans “deliver” for the businesses and consumers the DMA is expected to protect. 

However, the effective implementation of the DMA does not only concern the DMA itself, for the DMA will not apply in a vacuum. Many rules have been adopted (or revised) in recent years to reflect the role of platforms in our lives. Some other rules have existed for decades. How the DMA will interact with the existing framework is a topic that has not been extensively discussed so far. Commentators have largely focused on the obvious, that is, the relationship between the DMA and competition law. However, the DMA is expected to apply “without prejudice” to many other instruments, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consumer protection rules, and media regulation…

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