On 12 October, ALDE Party hosted in collaboration with Microsoft the first hybrid Stakeholder Series event of this autumn, titled ‘What's next for the DMA?’. Panellists Ondřej Kovařík MEP, Senior Attorney from Microsoft Carel Maske and General Counsel from Kelkoo Group Steve Thomas discussed issues related to the predicted final text of the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) proposal, which was launched at the end of 2020. ALDE Party Vice President Baroness Sal Brinton moderated the discussion

In his intervention, Kovařík highlighted the need for making the DMA clear in terms of its goals: “There is a will of MEPs to clarify or bring more details into the proposal in some areas mainly regarding the scope of the DMA, what kind of services should be covered by the regulation and in terms of setting the obligations and requirements from those companies defined as so called gatekeepers of the market.”

Maske added that the DMA “should be about gatekeepers and not about everything digital. There is some political momentum in being ambitious but there is a cost to it being overly broad… It cannot be one rule fits all and forever.”

When it comes to the scope of the DMA Thomas gave his perspective noting:

 “The scope of the DMA and the resources needed in order to effectively enforce it, as the potential scope expands and other issues become part of what the DMA is trying to solve, it becomes difficult to effectively enforce the provisions. How much can we actually do, and what are the biggest problems we are trying to solve?”

Interested in partnering with us on a future stakeholder series event? Email Laura Owen, Head of Engagement, at [email protected]

Missed the event? Watch it in full here or below.