By Edith Hancock
The European Union is reviewing how well it is enforcing the Digital Markets Act; the bloc's landmark tech competition law that has become a sticking point in trade tensions with the U.S. since President Trump returned to the White House.
The European Commission--the bloc's executive arm--said Thursday that it wants to collect feedback from EU citizens, small and medium-sized businesses, trade associations and other interested parties on the impact and effectiveness of the DMA and how well it can tackle new features of the tech sector, such as the fast-growing artificial intelligence space. The regulator set a Sept. 24 deadline to receive comments, with a view to wrapping up its review by May next year.
The DMA gives the commission power to label companies as "gatekeepers" because they run hugely popular platforms like the iPhone operating system or Google Search.
Gatekeepers have to obey a list of do's and don'ts designed to make life easier for the companies that rely on their platforms to reach customers. They risk fines up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover for flouting the rules, with penalties escalating to up to 20% for repeat offenses.
The threat of fines has become a sore point in transatlantic relations since Trump's election last November. Trump has complained about the EU's tech regulations, which the U.S. has referred to as non-tariff barriers to trade, and accused EU policymakers of using its own antitrust regime to tax American companies through fines. A draft trade agreement circulated by U.S. trade officials last month seeks a dialogue between the U.S. and EU on how to implement the DMA.
Brussels' officials started fully enforcing the rules in March last year. Currently seven companies--Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Tik-Tok-owner Bytedance, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Booking--are caught under its scope.
The review comes on the heels of a round of workshops with commission officials, where lawyers for the tech giants laid out how they have changed how their platforms work in the EU to follow the rules.
Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 03, 2025 12:28 ET (16:28 GMT)
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