"The 'Digital Services Act' and the 'Digital Markets Act' are the two main pillars of the European digital strategy. Furthermore, they will constitute the integrated framework that the European Union needs in order to create new opportunities to provide cross-border digital and e-commerce services to all Europeans. My opinion for the CoR aims to foster innovation in the digital economy, especially by traditional SMEs and also start-ups as well as to ensure an SME-friendly regulatory environment." Rodi Kratsa, Governor of the Ionian islands region and rapporteur on the CoR opinion made these remarks during an ECON Commission meeting chaired by Michael Murphy. Presenting her opinion, Kratsa emphasised the importance of a level playing field for business and of redressing abuses to allow for more innovation and more European creation and recalled digital cohesion as a value and the need for legislative cohesion in these proposals and how they interact with sector-specific legislation.
The European Parliament's rapporteur on the Digital Markets Act, Andreas Schwab, joined the discussion saying: "For many years some big digital players have been imposing their business models on the 'new promised lands' such as digital markets: like that they have enforced their position in the European single market without having anyone else who could fairly compete. It is time for the EU legislator to take over. As the European Parliament, we have been asking for this since 2014 and finally, the Commission has published the two proposals on DSA and DMA. We need to achieve fair competition to make the single market flourish, a wider consumer choice and more innovation, in order to have 'plurality' and to reach a level playing field in the EU single market."
Eddy van Hijum, Member of the Council of the Province of Overijssel and EPP-CoR ECON Coordinator spoke about the need of clearly defined norms and rules regarding access to the e-commerce platforms for companies and SME's in order to avoid imbalance. "We need clearly defined procedures for suspension of companies, for resolving issues and to regain access to the platforms. I believe the proposed regulation and amendments will help to ensure fairness and the necessary checks and balances."
The legislation included in the Digital Services Act package proposes a stronger regulation of large internet platforms that have come to fundamentally change the structures, rules and power-balances of online market spaces and public discourses. It seeks to re-establish a fair competition between companies in a levelled digital environment and to counter the unrestrained spread of disinformation by enforcing platforms' responsibility. As many of the sectors in which online platforms play a dominant role, such as urban transport, housing and tourist accommodation, media pluralism are regulated at the local and regional level and the issue of enforcement as a significant concern, the opinion is of particular importance to the CoR. The Digital Services Act package is composed by two legislative initiatives: the Digital Services Act itself and the Digital Markets Act.
The opinion was adopted with 69 votes in favour, 2 against and one abstention. It is scheduled to be adopted by the CoR's plenary during its next session from the 30 June to the 2 July.