EU digital markets act passes committee

EUROPE – A European Union committee has voted in favour of a pro-competition law targeted at digital “gatekeepers” imposing restrictions on the use of data for targeted or micro-targeted advertising.

EU Commission

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee voted by 42 votes to two in favour of the Digital Markets Act, which blacklists certain practices by large tech platforms called “gatekeepers”.

The law applies to “core platform services”, which are defined by the act as major companies with €8 billion in annual turnover and 45 million monthly service users operating in areas such as online intermediation services, social networks, search engines, operating systems, online advertising services, cloud computing and video-sharing services.

The law will require gatekeepers to introduce additional requirements on the use of data, stating that a gatekeeper should “for its own commercial purposes, and the placement of third-party advertising in its own services, refrain from combining personal data for the purpose of delivering targeted or micro-targeted advertising”, except if there is a “clear, explicit, renewed, informed consent”.

Children’s personal data will also not be allowed to be processed for commercial purposes, such as direct marketing, profiling and behaviourally-targeted advertising.

The act would also grant the European Commission the power to restrict gatekeepers from making acquisitions in order to protect the “internal market”.

MEPs propose creating a “European high-level group of digital regulators” to facilitate cooperation and coordination between the European Commission and member states in their enforcement decisions.

Minimum fines will be imposed of between 4% and 20% of total turnover.

The Digital Markets Act will now move to a plenary vote in December 2021, after which the approved text will then become European parliament’s mandate for negotiations with EU governments in 2022.

The Digital Services Act – a parallel proposal to regulate online platforms – will be voted on by the committee at a future meeting.

Anna Cavazzini, chair of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, said: “Currently, a few large platforms and tech players prevent alternative business models from emerging – including those of small and medium-sized companies.

“Often, users cannot choose freely between different services. With the Digital Markets Act, the EU is putting an end to the absolute market dominance of big online platforms.”

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments


Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts