Competition in the digital economy : What next after the Digital Markets Act? - Statement for the Economic Committee of the German Parliament (Bundestag)

This is a statement on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the question what is next for implementation of the DMA and other regulatory questions in digital markets. The statement was prepared for the German Parliament (Bundestag) where the author served as an expert in a hearing of the Economic Committee on the matter. In the paper, three regulatory challenges are set out: Firstly, in the short term, the European Commission and competition agencies plus lawmakers need to make sure that the DMA is implemented in a meaningful way. Competition law will contiue to apply.In the medium term, some other regulatory projects should be taken up, namely merger control, abandoning market definition in competition law cases, securing access to customers for small- and medium-sized enterprises (e.g. via the Data Act), the implementation of competition by design and the speeding up of procedures at courts and authorities.In the long term, the digital revolution poses new questions to lawmakers: What are the principle for a modern economic framework? Some suggestions on a more prinicpled approach, deregulation and the regulatory puzzle are presented