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For many years, the regulation of digital markets has been a key
priority in Europe. In 2015, the European Commission committed the
EU to the creation of a digital single market - and that commitment
spawned a series of diverse initiatives and regulatory changes
affecting providers and users of digital goods and services. Even
between EU Member States, the standard of digital regulation has
varied-and continues to vary-with many issues being left to local
implementation. And, in 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU (with
1. Getting Europe ready for the digital age: updates to the proposed Digital Services Act
The dynamic double-team is arriving! In December 2020, the European Commission published two headline proposed pieces of legislation designed to implement the EU’s digital strategy. Together, the Digital Services Act (
DSA) and Digital Markets Act (see more details below) are intended to create a safer digital space and to establish a level playing field to foster innovation and growth both in the EU and globally.
The DSA, as one half of this legislative package, will focus on the regulation of digital services providers, or “intermediaries.” It seeks to address the dominance of “very large” platforms (those reaching over 10% of the 450 million consumers in Europe) and the accountability of companies for third-party content. Breaches of the DSA may attract one-off fines of up to 6% of annual global turnover or periodic penalty payments of a maximum of 5% of average daily turnover.