GDPR – Corporate Finance Lab

Since the introduction of the EU Private Damages Directive 2014/104, the amount of private damages actions following competition law infringements have grown exponentially. Indeed, enforcement by private parties is viewed as a complementary limb to the enforcement of competition law by the European Commission and the national competition authorities. One aspect that deserves special attention in that regard is the “single economic unit” doctrine which allows several or all companies belonging to a group of companies to be held liable for an infringement of competition law they did not themselves commit. Recent rulings such as Athenian Brewery (C-393/23) in the context of private international law and ILVA (C-383/23) with regard to liability for infringements of the GDPR furthermore showcase the far-reaching implications of the single economic unit doctrine.

This post delves deeper into the possible liability of the different members of a group of companies when only one of them has been found to infringe EU competition law. Who can be liable, and how to manage this risk?

Continue reading “Liability for competition law infringements within groups: beware of misbehaving family members”

On 15 December 2020, the European Commission (“Commission”) proposed the “Digital Services Package”. This package comprises proposals for two directly effective regulations, namely the (1) Digital Services Act (“DSA”) and (2) the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”).[1] The objective of these regulations is to create a “digital safe space” and “fair online competition” in the EU.

Due to its far-reaching terms, the DMA would likely require changes to the business models of big tech. Mandatory ‘big tech benevolence’ may well benefit “business users”, i.e. people or companies that use platforms to provide goods or services to internet users. Because, as economist Milton Friedman famously stated “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” however, changes in big tech’s business models prompted by the DMA might also affect free internet services.

This blog post presents a preliminary analysis of the DMA’s possible consequences for ‘the internet as we know it,’ i.e., for ‘big tech’, smaller internet-based competitors, and European users. The analysis is based on the DMA as it was proposed by the Commission on 15 December 2020; the scope and content of the DMA could still be amended during the legislative process. In the first part, the main prohibitions, obligations and rights set forth in the DMA, and the revenue impacts thereof for ‘big tech,’ are analyzed. The DMA’s possible consequences for smaller players and European consumers are discussed in part two. In the third part, the concept of ‘data as currency’ is clarified. The final part lays out the conclusions.

Continue reading “The Proposed Digital Markets Act’s Effect On Free Internet Services”