Political agreement reached on Digital Markets Act

The European Council and the European Parliament have reached a political agreement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA). 

The political agreement reached between the European Council and European Parliament will now be subject to formal approval by both bodies. The DMA will enter into force, six months after its adoption, and will be directly applicable across the EU. 

• The thresholds for a company to be designated gatekeeper status will include an annual turnover of €7.5 billion in the European Economic Area, a market capitalisation of €75 billion.
• For Gatekeepers who are not in compliance with the proposed regulations, there is potential they could face fines of up to 10 percent of annual worldwide turnover for a first infringement, and of up to 20 percent for repeated infringements.
• Restrictions will be introduced on combining personal data from different sources.
• It will be mandated that users be allowed to install apps from third-party platforms.
• There will be prohibitions on bundling services.
• There will be a prohibition on self-preferencing practices.
• Interoperability requirements for messaging services will mean that they must interoperate with smaller messaging platforms.   

To engage with AmCham on matters related to digitalisation, please contact Aimée Millar at a.millar@amcham.ie