Activities of Paul TANG related to 2020/2223(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Competition policy – annual report 2020 (debate)
Amendments (36)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas EU competition policy is designed to maintain an open market economy with free, fair and effective competition favouring an efficient allocation of resourcesmust benefit all EU citizens, while promoting innovation and fair competition in the single market, paying particular attention to the SMEs and a level playing field;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas exceptional and temporary measures to respond to the pandemic should not be applied in disguise of anticompetitive behaviour, nor be exploited by financially already unhealthy companies to receive additional aid without the necessary and effective restructuring plans and whereas all aid should be designed and granted in an economically and socially responsible manner; whereas in the long run, companies should commit to resume their contribution to sustainable development goals for social, economic and environmental wellbeing and for the fight against climate change;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
B b. whereas competition policy should address efficiently social, digital and environmental challenges, and must be in line with the priorities outlined in the European Green Deal and the objectives of the Paris Agreement;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
B d. whereas data scandals, investigations and evidence have shown how personal date is being collected and stored often in an excessive data storage manner, as well as used and sold to third parties by platforms and how dominant technology players and platforms have been tracking consumers online systematically;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas smart reconciliation of the Union’s competition rules with its industrial and international trade policies is essential for re-shoring value chaaching the objectives under the European Green Deal and the Pillar of Social Rights while securing activities and bolstering global competitiveness; nd creating decent jobs in the EU and third countries; whereas the Commission is currently carrying out a general review of competition policy enforcement effectiveness including antitrust regulations, a number of State aid rules and guidance, and the evaluation of merger control rules and the review of the Merger Definition Notice;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas given that recent data scandals, investigations and evidence have shown how personal data is being collected, used and sold to third parties by platforms and how dominant technology players and platforms have been tracking consumers online systematically;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas analysts predict1a Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet Inc. (Google) will collectively capture 61% of all digital advertising in 2021, representing a doubling of share since 2015; _________________ 1aGroupMWorldwide, Inc. (2020), This Year Next Year: The End-Of-Year Forecasts December 2020. https://www.groupm.com/this-year-next- year-global-end-of-year-forecast-2020/
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
D b. whereas Facebook and Alphabet Inc. (Google) earn respectively 98,53 and 83,3 per cent of their revenue with digital advertising 1a; _________________ 1aStatista (2020), Statista dossier about Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft (GAFAM), Article number: did- 47704-1, https://www.statista.com/study/47704/goo gle-apple-facebook-amazon-microsoft- gafam/
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that ensuring a level playing field for undertakings in the single market also depends on decisively and effectively combating social dumpingnd on the international level is key for European companies, especially SMEs, and for the creation of decent and sustainable jobs within and outside the EU, respecting high labour and environmental standards; calls in that respect on the Commission to step up its efforts to establish a legal framework for a mandatory Human Rights and environmental due diligence instrument;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights that excessive tax burdens may stifle innovation and jeopardise the contestability of markets, especially for SMEsUnderlines that SMEs account for an estimated 30% of the EU’s goods exports to the rest of the world, while the internal market continues to be the most important market for SMEs; recalls that, in order to be efficient, competition policies should be reconciled with the Union’s industrial and international trade policies, in order to help SMEs cope with the greater challenges of entering new markets and enable them to compete on their own merits, aiming at economic diversity and an SME-friendly trade environment;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Is concerned with the rapid evolvement of the digital markets and that existing competition policy instruments cannot always provide for quick and efficient ex-ante detection and timely intervention, especially in antitrust-cases; welcomes in this regard the Commission proposal on DSA and DMA, and looks forward to further analysis on how competition policy and market monitoring tools can be adapted to the digital markets evolution;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Highlights the importance of policy coherence and for any aid granted to be issued only to companies enduring direct financial consequences of the pandemic; urges furthermore that companies using tax havens outside the EU for tax avoidance to be banned from accessing State Aid or financial support if they do not commit to changing their behaviour;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Highlights the importance of a European competition policy design fit to tackle new challenges linked to the use of data, algorithms and fast-moving markets in an increasingly digital environment, as well as strengthening cooperation networks between Member States' authorities and the Commission to support fair competition in the single market;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Regrets the slowness of some antitrust investigations compared to the fast-moving digital markets; underlines that the Google Shopping case started on the 30th November 20101a, stresses the damaging effect resulting from this situation and the financial consequences to which some actors have and are being exposed; _________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/is ef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=1_39740
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15 b. Regrets that ten years after the opening of an investigation into Google search bias practices, the European Commission has still not completed the investigation; notes that antitrust enforcement actions in the United States of America by the Department of Justice and the Attorney Generals capture a wide range of Google's anti-competitive practices; deplores the limited scope of EU enforcement action which fails to protect European consumers; notes that the remedies proposed by Google have been rejected as inefficient by market players and consumer organisations across Europe; calls on the European Commission to file antitrust charges against Google for abuse of dominance in other specialised search services, including local search;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Takes the view that new competition tools might be needed to deal with structural competition problems across digital markets which current rules cannot address in the most effective manner and calls for careful Commission surveillance on these markets so as to be able to act fast on major issues and legal loopholes;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the Commission to consider proposals to prohibit platforms from engaging in self-preferencing or operating in lines of business that depend on or interoperate with the platform, as well as to require platforms to make their services compatible with competing networks to allow for interoperability and data portability; moreover, the toolbox of the Commission as future DMA regulator should include the ability to ban abusive self-preferencing practices in the form of default settings; the Commission should have the ability to force a gatekeeping platform to substitute certain default settings by an effective and objective consumer choice architecture;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Considers that the structural unbundling of Big Tech monopolies is desirable for restoring competition in digital markets given the limits of fines and the failure of passed behavioural remedies in certain antitrust cases;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Looks forward toWelcomes the Commissionʼs proposals for a Digital Services Act and a Digital Markets Act for having a distinct approach towards all digital services, very large digital services and gatekeepers; regrets however that the approach towards very large digital services and gatekeepers lacks effectiveness in regulating platforms operating as online advertising (intermediary) services; furthermore regrets that interoperability measures as a tool for stimulating competition are only taken into account for gatekeepers ancillary services and not for its core platform services; calls on the Commission to use interoperability and interconnectivity measures as a method to stimulate competition;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Looks forward toWelcomes the Commissionʼs proposals for a Digital Services Act and a Digital Markets Act; the objective of these proposals is to ensure fair and contestable digital markets in the EU; this objective is complementary but distinct from the goal pursued by competition law, namely the protection of undistorted competition on the market and a level playing field; notes that the first enforcement action under the new DMA Regulation will only be possible in five years; therefore urges the European Commission to pursue its antitrust enforcement in new and pending cases involving gatekeepers in the digital environment;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Insists on the enforcement framework in the DMA; as regulator, the Commission should be sufficiently resourced and the process should be participatory among all actors; the identification of remedies should not be left to the sole appreciation of the incriminated company but instead be subject to a strict compliance mechanism;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20 b. Calls on the Commission make full use of its competition policy instruments to guarantee a fair level playing field and by addressing potential gatekeeper effects with regards to access to key enabling technologies for artificial intelligence and data;
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22 a. Calls on the Commission to review its merger and acquisition rules when it comes to assessing personal data; calls, in particular, on the Commission to fully consider and assess personal data assets as all other traditional physical assets when it decides on digital mergers and acquisitions; invites the Commission to learn from recent mergers such as Facebook and WhatsApp or Google and Fitbit acquisitions;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22 b. Regrets the European Commission's decision to approve Google’s takeover of wearable fitness device company Fitbit; notes that the remedies proposed by Google and endorsed by the European Commission are insufficient to ensure effective competition in wearables and digital health, which are becoming increasingly important in consumers’ lives; urges the European Commission to take a broader view when evaluating digital mergers and assess the impact of data consolidation; notes that the acquisition of targets with specific data resources can bring about a concentration in control over valuable and non-replicable data resources and result in better data access for the merging parties than for their competitors; stresses that data consolidation via mergers may strengthen a dominant position or allow the acquiring entity to leverage market power, and sometimes raise foreclosure concerns;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22 c. Calls on the Commission to update its antitrust tools especially on merger control and adequate them to new realities of digital and technology markets and to change the assessment of market power, merger notification thresholds, measurement of merger effects on consumer privacy, industrial data and investigation of abuse of dominant position;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 d (new)
Paragraph 22 d (new)
22 d. Calls on the Commission to investigate the advertising technology at the heart of big tech companies business model, in particular asks the Commission to look into how Google and Facebook are collecting, accessing, processing, using and monetising personal data. Moreover, calls the Commission to investigate Google’s practices in the advertising technology (“ad tech”) value chain, and its position in relation to advertisers, publishers and intermediaries, and competitors in search advertising, display advertising and ad tech services;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25 a. Recalls, with view to its report on competition policy 2019 (2019/2131 (INI))2a that abuse of market power can take place even when products or services are supplied for free or in exchange of private data; believes that the passing on of private data to third parties for marketing or commercial purposes is frequently done without the consumer’s proper consent, as alternatives to sharing data are often not provided; considers that in the digital economy, the concentration of data in a small number of companies leads to market failures, excessive rent extraction and a blocking of new entrants; _________________ 2a https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc ument/A-9-2020-0022_EN.html
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25 a. Welcomes the investigation of the Commission into Google’s online advertising ecosystem; Emphasises the importance of investigating the process in which Google matches advertisers with websites that offer space for displaying advertising, so-called real-time bidding systems; highlights the absence of adequate measures against advertising intermediaries in the draft Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, lacking coherence of the Commission's policy;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. Reiterates that taxation is sometimes used to grant indirect State aid, creating an uneven playing field in the internal market; deplores the abuse of tax rulings, points out that royalties as a financial product do not only risk to facilitate money laundering but also to undermine competition in the single market; recalls that aggressive tax planning does not solely harm fair competition but also undermines the proper functioning of social systems in general; insists that the Commission has access to the information exchanged between the Member States’ tax authorities so as to better detect violations of competition rules; recalls that examination by the Commission of a tax ruling under a State aid point of view does not constitute tax harmonisation;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28 a. Recalls the state-aid complaint tabled in 2019 on the confidential tax ruling of the Dutch revenue service and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, letting the latter route its shares through a trust in the Channel Island of Jersey to avoid tax on dividends; recalls that the complaint states the ruling is at odds with the Dutch law on dividend tax of 1965; regrets that no public investigation has started or decision has been taken since the complaint was lodged; calls on the Commission to investigate the Shell complaint and publicly communicates about it;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28 a. Welcomes the Commission repeal of the Apple ruling; Is of the opinion that the Apple case shows once more the need for sound state aid rules, taking into account beneficial tax regimes; repeats its call for a minimum effective tax rate and a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) and public country-by- country reporting (pCBCR); awaits the results of the ongoing international negotiations on a digital tax;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31 a. Points out that while the level of fines imposed by the Commission is amongst the highest in the world, nearly two-thirds of the fines imposed by the Commission in cartel cases since 2006 stayed below 0.99% of global annual turnover, thus well below the ceiling of 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover allowed3a; notes that while the ECA rightly points out that the amount of fines alone does not allow conclusions on whether they are effective deterrents, the ECA also underlines that the ceiling itself of possible fines can limit the deterrent effect in “serious cases”; _________________ 3a https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADoc uments/SR20_24/SR_Competition_policy _EN.pdf
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Suggests looking into ‘killer acquisition’ practices that could jeopardise innovation; calls the Commission to review its thresholds rules in digital mergers and acquisition; moreover, when assessing personal data; calls on the Commission to fully consider and assess personal data assets as all other traditional assets when it decides on acquisitions; invites the Commission to learn from past controversial acquisitions decisions such as Facebook/WhatsApp or Google/Fitbit deals;
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33 a. Reiterates that it is negatively surprised by the Commission's approval of the FitBit takeover by Alphabet; observes a great inconstancy in acquisition assessment decisions compared to the aims of the draft Digital Markets Act (DMA), undermining the credibility of the DMA; worries about future processing of personal data from FitBit users, including data concerning health, that can be used for purposes of digital advertising; stipulates that data concerning health should be seen as a special category of personal data, as laid down in art. 9 GDPR1a; calls on the Commission to supervise and enforce compliance of/with the conditions of the takeover; _________________ 1a Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation)
Amendment 355 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 b (new)
Paragraph 33 b (new)
Amendment 356 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 c (new)
Paragraph 33 c (new)
33 c. Sees the increased interest of Facebook, Google, Amazon and other big tech businesses in using artificial intelligence for purposes of disseminating and ordering content on their platforms; stresses that these algorithms are often a ‘black box’ for competitors and users and lead to echo-chambers; calls on the Commission to use its competition framework to increase transparency over disseminating and ordering algorithms and user control over the content they see and on the way content is ranked to them, including options for ranking outside their ordinary content consumption habits and for opting out completely from any content curation; underlines furthermore the specific risks existing in the use of AI automated recognition applications, which are currently developing rapidly; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ban automated biometric identification, such as facial recognition;