Sebastian Louven holds lecture assignment on European Telecommunication Law at FU Berlin
Once again, this summer term our Partner Dr. Sebastian Louven will hold his lecture on European Telecommunication Law at Freie Universität Berlin. The lecture is part of the wellknown postgraduate LLM programme Master of European and International Business, Competition and Regulatory Law (MBL-FU). The programme adresses lawyers and economists with already some experience. It contains…
Digital Markets Act – Private Enforcement
The Digital Markets Act contains regulations for a European approach to market regulation of digital platforms. First of all, this includes the identification as a relevant gatekeeper. Artt. 5 and 6 DMA‑E prohibit certain practices. The prohibitions and other provisions of the regulation are to be directly subject to public enforcement. This also includes penalty regulations. The regulation therefore…
Digital Markets Act — Market Investigations
In addition to the prohibitions of the blacklist, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) also contains an independent instrument of market investigation. Three occasions for the initiation of a market investigation are provided for: Objective: The instrument of the market investigation is similar to that of the sector enquiry under cartel law. According to this, the competition authorities…
Digital Markets Act — In with regulation, out with regulation
The draft Digital Markets Act (DMA) is intended to enable sector-specific market regulation of so-called gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are companies that operate central platform services and thereby exceed the legally defined thresholds. Specific conduct obligations are positively imposed on these companies. However, the strict standard of Art. 5 and 6 DMA does not apply unconditionally. This is because…
Digital Markets Act — Definitions and scope of protection
The DMA is aimed at digital platforms and is intended to subject them to a sector-specific market regulation regime. For this purpose, a blacklist of measures that are no longer tolerated from a competitive point of view is to be included, which are prohibited for “gatekeepers”. In addition, the EU Commission is to be given extended possibilities to…
Brogsitter Defence Returns
Brogsitter Defence ReturnsSome time ago, the ECJ ruled in its Wikingerhof decision on international jurisdiction in antitrust actions if there is also a contractual relationship between the parties. Accordingly, the connecting factor of the tort or delict also applies in such cases if the interpretation of a contract is not indispensable. The decision provided some clarity: if…
Contribution to the DAJV Transatlantic Legal Conference 2023
The German-American Lawyer’s Association has invited me to speak at their Transatlantic Legal Conference this year. The event will take place on 17 March 2023. I will be speaking on a panel on data and merger control. It will basically cover data-related issues in antitrust merger control. Just a few buzzwords on this: The full programme is available here.
Digital Markets Act — What are virtual assistants?
For some weeks now, there has been considerable media interest in so-called intelligent chatbots. Whether these are really intelligent and whether the term “artificial intelligence” is appropriate at all is open to question. They impress with their access to training data and numerous possibilities for automation. WHAT ARE PERSONAL ASSISTANTS?But even that is not entirely…
Digital Markets Act: Prohibition of data aggregation
Among the strict prohibitions in the Digital Markets Act, Article 5(2) DMA, which regulates the aggregation of personal data by the gatekeeper, stands out. The full text now reads as follows: “The gatekeeper shall not do any of the following:(a) process, for the purpose of providing online advertising services, personal data of end users using…
Digital Markets Act: Prohibition of Self-Preferencing in Ranking
The prohibition of most-favoured-nation practices under Article 5(3) of the DMA is a competitive practice that restricts the freedom of action of commercial customers outside the platform. However, most-favoured-nation treatment is not to be confused with self-preferential treatment, which is the subject of this article today. For the sake of clarity, here is the full text of…