On 9 September 2019, the German "Commission Competition Law 4.0" (Commission) submitted its report "A New Competition Framework for the Digital Economy" (English summary available here) to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy. The Commission was set up by the minister in September 2018 and mandated with developing recommendations for the further development of European competition law in light of the digital economy, the increased importance of platform-based business models, and the increased use of data in the product value chain referred to as "Industry 4.0".
The report sets out 22 recommendations primarily relating to access to data, regulation of digital platforms, cooperation between companies in the digital economy, and institutional links between competition law and other areas of law. Of particular note for companies active in the digital sphere are recommendations regarding increased consumer powers to dispose of their own data and introducing rules of conduct for digital platforms, including a prohibition on self-preferencing and greater data portability and interoperability obligations.
Read the full briefing here.
Contacts
Kyriakos Fountoukakos
Managing Partner, Competition Regulation and Trade, Brussels
Key contacts
Kyriakos Fountoukakos
Managing Partner, Competition Regulation and Trade, Brussels
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