Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust chief, said that the new regulations to target Apple and other big tech companies will come into effect in early 2023.
Apple could be forced to make changes to the App Store, Messages, and third-party browsers in Europe if the Digital Markets Act is passed. It could be forced to allow users to install third-party app stores and sideload apps, give developers the ability to closely interoperate with Apple's own services and promote their offers outside the App Store.
The requirement to make messaging, voice-calling, and video-calling services interoperability is one of the more recent additions to the DMA. Apple would be forced to comply with the interoperability rules if Meta apps were allowed to request to interoperate with the iMessage framework.
In a speech at the International Competition Network conference in Berlin, Vestager said that the DMA will enter into force next spring and we are getting ready for enforcement as soon as the first notifications come in. The first enforcements could follow soon after the regulation is in place, according to the EU.
This next chapter is exciting. It means a lot of concrete preparations. It's about setting up new structures within the Commission, pooling resources... based on relevant experience. It's about hiring staff. It's about preparing the IT systems. It's about drafting further legal texts on procedures or notification forms. Our teams are currently busy with all these preparations and we're aiming to come forward with the new structures very soon.
In March, EU lawmakers approved the DMA. The legislation must be approved by the European Parliament and the European Council before it can take effect. Big tech companies that meet the criteria to be designated a "gatekeeper" must declare their status to the European Commission within three months after the regulation comes into effect.
Apple is almost certain to be classified as agatekeeper due to the size of its annual turnover in the EU, its ownership and operation of platforms with a large number of active users, and its entrenched and durable position.
In addition to the European Union, Apple'secosystem is coming under intense scrutiny by governments around the world, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and more. A significant level of cooperation is already occurring as part of preparations for the DMA, and should be closely cooperated by national competition authorities around the world.
For that next chapter, close cooperation with competition authorities, both inside and outside the EU will be crucial. This is irrespective of whether they apply traditional enforcement tools or have developed their own specific regulatory instruments, like the German digital regulation. Close cooperation will be necessary because we will not be short of work and we will not be short of novel services or practices to look at. And the efforts needed at a global scale are enormous. So we will need to work together more than ever.
Many of you will be watching the roll out of the DMA with great interest. This will be a mutual learning experience. The EU has worked hard to find the right balance, and I think we have come up with something that is tough but also very fair. It goes without saying that the more we, as an international competition community, are able to harmonize our approach, the less opportunity there will be for global tech giants to exploit enforcement gaps between our jurisdictions.
The company that ignores the rules will face fines of up to 10 percent of the company's annual turnover, or 20 percent in the event of repeated violations, as well as periodic penalties of up to 5 percent of the company's total. The European Commission will be able to impose additional sanctions, such as obliging a gatekeeper to sell a business or parts of it, or banning them from acquiring it.
Apple has resisted attempts to change its operating systems and services. Apple chose to pay a $5.5 million fine every week for ten weeks in the Netherlands instead of obeying orders from the Authority for Consumers and Markets to allow third-party payment systems in Dutch dating apps. The rules surrounding Dutch dating apps are insufficient according to the ACM.
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