20 Amendments of Daniel BUDA related to 2020/0374(COD)
Amendment 77 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) Digital services in general and online platforms in particular play an increasingly important role in the economy, in particular in the internal market, by providing new business opportunities in the Union and facilitating cross-border trading as well as innovation development opportunities.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Core platform services, at the same time, feature a number of characteristics that can be exploited by their providers. These characteristics of core platform services include among others extreme scale economies, which often result from nearly zero marginal costs to add business users or end users. Other characteristics of core platform services are very strong network effects, an ability to connect many business users with many end users through the multi-sidedness of these services, a significant degree of dependence of both business users and end users, lock-in effects, athe discouraging and lack of multi- homing for the same purpose by end users, vertical integration, and data driven- advantages. All these characteristics combined with unfair conduct by providers of these services can have the effect of substantially undermining the contestability of the core platform services, and discouraging investment in innovation for potential new operators on the market, as well as impacting the fairness of the commercial relationship between providers of such services and their business users and end users, leading to rapid and potentially far- reaching decreases in business users’ and end users’ choice in practice, and therefore can confer to the provider of those services the position of a so-called gatekeeper.
Amendment 81 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Gatekeepers have a significant impact on the internal market, providing gateways for a large number of business users, to reach end users, everywhere in the Union and on different markets. The adverse impact of unfair practices on the internal market and particularly weak contestability of core platform services, including their negative societal and economic implications, have led national legislators and sectoral regulators to act. A number of national regulatory solutions have already been adopted or proposed, or are in the process of being adopted, to address unfair practices and the contestability of digital services or at least with regard to some of them. This has created a risk of divergent regulatory solutions and thereby fragmentation of the internal market, leading to reduced legal certainty on the internal market, and thus raising the risk of increased compliance costs due to different sets of national regulatory requirements.
Amendment 83 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Therefore, business users and end- users of core platform services provided by gatekeepers should be afforded harmonised and appropriate regulatory safeguards throughout the Union against the unfair behaviour of gatekeepers in order to facilitate cross- border business within the Union and thereby improve the proper functioning of the internal market and legal certainty, and to address existing or likely emerging fragmentation in the specific areas covered by this Regulation. Moreover, while gatekeepers tend to adopt global or at least pan-European business models and algorithmic structures, they can adopt, and in some cases have adopted, different business conditions and practices in different Member States, which is liable to create disparities between the competitive conditions for the users of core platform services provided by gatekeepers, to the detriment of integration within the internal market.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) By approximating diverging national laws, obstacles to the freedom to provide and receive services, including retail services, within the internal market should be eliminated. A targeted set of harmonised, effective, mandatory rules befitting the digital age should therefore be established at Union level to ensure contestable and fair digital markets featuring the presence of gatekeepers within the internal market.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) A sustained market capitalisation of the provider of core platform services at or above the threshold level over three or more years should be considered as strengthening the presumption that the provider of core platform services has a significant impact on the internal market, generating at least a potential effect as regards influencing end user options.
Amendment 99 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) Such an assessment can only be done in light of an efficient market investigation tailored to the conditions on the digital market, while taking into account the quantitative thresholds. In its assessment the Commission should pursue the objectives of preserving, stimulating and fostering the level of innovation, the quality of digital products and services, the degree to which prices are fair and competitive, and the degree to which quality or choice for business users and for end users is or remains high. Elements that are specific to the providers of core platform services concerned, such as extreme scale economies, very strong network effects, an ability to connect many business users with many end users through the multi-sidedness of these services, lock-in effects, a lack of multi- homing or vertical integration, can be taken into account. In addition, a very high market capitalisation, a very high ratio of equity value over profit or a very high turnover derived from end users of a single core platform service can point to the tipping of the market or leveraging potential of such providers. Together with market capitalisation, high growth rates, or decelerating growth rates read together with profitability growth, are examples of dynamic parameters that are particularly relevant to identifying such providers of core platform services that are foreseen to become entrenched. The Commission should be able to take a decision by drawing adverse inferences from facts available where the provider significantly obstructs the investigation by failing to comply with the investigative measures taken by the Commission.
Amendment 100 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) A particular subset of rules should apply to those providers of core platform services that are foreseen to enjoy an entrenched and durable position in the near future. The same specific features of core platform services make them prone to tipping, both from the perspective of market conditions and from that of user behaviour: once a service provider has obtained a certain advantage over rivals or potential challengers in terms of scale or intermediation power, its position may become unassailable and the situation may evolve to the point that it is likely to become durable and entrenched in the near future. Undertakings can try to induce this tipping and emerge as gatekeeper by using some of the unfair conditions and practices regulated in this Regulation. In such a situation, it appears appropriate to intervene in an effective and harmonised manner before the market tips irreversibly.
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) However, such an early intervention should be limited to imposing only those obligations that are necessary and appropriate to ensure that the services in question remain contestable and allow to avoid the qualified risk of unfair conditions and practices. Obligations that prevent the provider of core platform services concerned from achieving an entrenched and durable position in its operations, such as those preventing unfair leveraging, and those that facilitate switching and multi- homing are more directly geared towards this purpose. To ensure proportionality, the Commission should moreover apply from that subset of obligations only those that are necessary and proportionate to achieve the objectives of this Regulation and should regularly review whether such obligations should be maintained, suppressed or adapted, bearing in mind the basic objective of guaranteeing a framework for developing and encouraging innovation.
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 39
Recital 39
(39) To safeguard a fair commercial environment and protect the contestability of the digital sector it is important to safeguard the right of business users to raise concerns about unfair behaviour by gatekeepers with any relevant administrative or other public authorities. For example, business users may want to complain about different types of unfair practices, such as discriminatory access conditions, unjustified closing of business user accounts or unclear grounds for product de-listings. Any practice that would in any way inhibit such a possibility of raising concerns or seeking available redress, for instance by means of confidentiality clauses in agreements or other written terms, should therefore be prohibited. This should be without prejudice to the right of business users and gatekeepers to lay down in their agreements the terms of use including the use of lawful complaints-handling mechanisms, including any use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms or of the jurisdiction of specific courts in compliance with respective Union and national law This should therefore also be without prejudice to the role gatekeepers play in the fight against illegal content online. All the rights and possibilities provided to business users should also be applicable to end users.
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 79 – introductory part
Recital 79 – introductory part
(79) The objective of this Regulation is to ensure a contestable and fair digital sector in general and accessible core platform services in particular, with a view to promoting and stimulating innovation, high quality of digital products and services, fair and competitive prices, as well as a high quality and choice for end users in the digital sector, within a harmonised digital market. This cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can only, by reason of the business model and operations of the gatekeepers and the scale and effects of their operations, as well as the need to maintain the right balance on the digital market while pursuing the objective of stimulating innovation, be fully achieved at Union level. The Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
Amendment 170 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 7
Article 1 – paragraph 7
7. National authorities shall not take decisions which would run counter to a decision adopted by the Commission under this Regulation. The Commission and Member States shall work in close cooperation and coordination in their enforcement actions, providing close assistance to Member States who request this.
Amendment 208 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) it operates a core platform service which serves as an important gateway for business users to reach end users; and vice- versa;
Amendment 221 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1 – point e
Article 3 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1 – point e
(e) business user or end user lock-in, including in terms of the limiting of option rights;
Amendment 223 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 2
In conducting its assessment, the Commission shall take into account foreseeable developments, as evaluated at least in the short term, of these elements.
Amendment 248 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) refrain from preventing or restricting business users or end users from raising issues with any relevant public authority or competent judicial authority relating to any practice of gatekeepers;.
Amendment 302 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
1. The measures implemented by the gatekeeper to ensure compliance with the obligations laid down in Articles 5 and 6 shall be fully effective in achieving the objective of the relevant obligation and lead towards this. The gatekeeper shall ensure that these measures are implemented in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Directive 2002/58/EC, and with legislation on cyber security, consumer protection and product safety.
Amendment 321 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) there is an imbalance of rights and obligations on business users or end users and the gatekeeper is obtaining an advantage from business users that is disproportionate to the service provided by the gatekeeper to business users; or end users;
Amendment 322 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3
Article 11 – paragraph 3
3. A gatekeeper shall not degrade the conditions, accessibility or quality of any of the core platform services provided to business users or end users who avail themselves of the rights or choices laid down in Articles 5 and 6, or makprejudice the exercise of those rights or choices unduly difficult.
Amendment 333 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Within six months after its designation pursuant to Article 3, a gatekeeper shall submit to the Commission an independently audited description of any techniques for profiling of business users and end users or consumers that the gatekeeper applies to or across its core platform services identified pursuant to Article 3. This description shall be updated at least annually.