IIA large online platforms:
EBF response
EBF response
30 June 2020: The European Banking Federation (EBF) welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to address the issues with regard to large online platforms with significant network effects acting as gate-keepers and welcomes the opportunity to respond to the published Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) on a possible ex-ante regulatory instrument.
We support the Commission’s assessment of both the positive aspects and the challenges presented by online platforms. There is a wide recognition that online platforms have been instrumental to the growth of digital markets and have helped spur both efficiency gains and innovation across the wider economy, including supporting SME engagement in the
digital economy.
At the same time, the nature of online platforms and the consequences of their growth and position in the modern digital economy has resulted in increasing concerns over how to ensure that digital markets remain conducive to fair competition and continue to generate the same opportunities and incentives for innovation in the future. We agree with the Commission that several platforms have developed particularly crucial roles, with the potential for their actions and decisions to have outsized effects on the European digital economy and to set “the parameters for future innovations, consumer choice and competition” across the Single Market.
We would, therefore, like to highlight in this response two particularly pressing issues, related to the role of data held by large online platforms and of technical infrastructure operated or controlled by large online platforms in the digital economy. These will also be expanded upon together with other points in our response to the Commission’s
consultation on the Digital Services Act Package.
Media contact:
Liga Semane, Data & Innovation – Policy Adviser – l.semaine@ebf.eu