ACM officers Samira and Robert join the DMA Joint Teams in Brussels

Since September 2023, ACM officers Samira Rharissi and Robert S. have been members of the so-called DMA Joint Teams of the European Commission and ACM. They help implement and enforce compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on behalf of ACM. Some of the duties of the DMA Joint Teams are compliance procedures, market studies, and possible appeal proceedings. “By working together with national competition authorities such as ACM, the European Commission increases its clout”, Samira and Robert explain.?

The Digital Markets Act (DMA)

The DMA contains European competition rules, which will apply to the biggest globally operating digital platforms: Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Amazon. These companies are so big that users can hardly ignore them. That is why they are called ‘gatekeepers’. The DMA rules stipulate that everyone must be able to choose freely between services of a platform and those of smaller competitors. The European Commission has the exclusive power to enforce the DMA, but it can be assisted in its enforcement by national regulators such as ACM.

The DMA seeks to ensure better online protection of people and businesses, as well as better functioning digital markets.

The European Commission was immediately enthusiastic about ACM’s proposal for a delegation. Having a delegation in Brussels perfectly fits with ACM’s expectations of the DMA: the new European rules will ensure better online protection of people and businesses, as well as better functioning digital markets.

Benefits of cooperation

Both sides will benefit from the new collaboration in Brussels, says Samira. “ACM will gain more expertise through the exchange of knowledge and experience. In addition, most national regulators have already gained knowledge from studies into digital markets. For example, ACM has carried out studies into app stores and cloud services. That is expertise that we can share in Brussels.”??????????

Insight

Samira assists in compliance procedures and market studies, among other activities. Together with her fellow ACM co-worker Robert Stil, they are on different teams. They are working on the implementation of the various obligations laid down in the DMA by the digital platforms that have been designated as ‘gatekeepers’.

“We also take part in market studies that the Commission has launched. We are full members of those teams.” Samira offers one such example: the collection of information from market participants. “We wish to gain insight into the plans of the designated gatekeepers as to how they seek to comply with the statutory obligations, and how they seek to involve their stakeholders in that process. We do so, for example, by sitting down with various stakeholders.”

Less intimidating

Since September, both Samira and Robert work 2 days a week in Brussels. Robert expects other forms of collaboration and coordination to emerge in the future with regard to enforcement of the DMA. “We are already seeing that enforcement of the competition rules by national authorities as well as enforcement of the DMA by the Commission are coordinated pretty well. The DMA also allows national regulators to launch investigations into compliance with that law in their own countries, and to help in the execution of certain investigative steps, such as interrogations and dawn raids.” He believes that this can be an incentive for business users (larger and smaller ones) or consumers to go to the European Commission. “Filing a report with ACM feels less intimidating than filing one with the European Commission. In that way, national regulators such as ACM are the eyes and ears in the implementation of and compliance with the DMA. ?

About the DMA

More information about ACM’s role with regard to the DMA (in Dutch), the DMA itself, the regulation, and the DMA on the site of the Dutch central government (in Dutch).

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