14 Amendments of Evelyne GEBHARDT related to 2020/2223(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that competition policy is vital to strengthening and ultimately completing the single market by preventing the distortion of competition, providing a fair and level playing field for all market participants - including the micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) -, enabling the growth of innovative businesses, and guaranteeing a high level of consumer protection and choice; allowing consumers to choose between a variety of suppliers and products;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Underlines the high necessity of rigorous application of competition rules from which SMEs can also benefit;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Acknowledges that third-country companies benefitting from State aid or other subsidies might potentially distort the competition in the internal market; in this regard, calls on the Commission to take appropriate measures to ensure fair market access, in every concerned sector, such as the aviation;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Calls on the Commission to assess how competition policy can further contribute to the European Green Deal objectives;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Notes that the Commission responded to the outbreak of the COVID- 19 crisis by adopting special competition rules which should remain temporary; recalls in this context that state aid guaranteed under the extraordinary circumstances for air transport companies help to protect employees, but this must happen without harming the consumers’ rights;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes the changes both businesses and consumers are facing due to the digital transformation and welcomes the Commission’s focus on modernising its competition policy to adequately tackle serious problems and market failures in the digital sector; recalls that competition policy is also about ensuring consumer welfare as well as providing quality, innovation and sustainability; highlights also that consumer rights must be preserved and if possible strengthened both online and offline and therefore, competition policy rules are also tools for reaching a high level consumer protection;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights the importance of a few online operators acting as gatekeepers to the digital economy, including access to e- commerce markets and the consequences on freedom of choice for consumers and access to markets for companies; underlines, therefore, the need for an internal market ex ante regulatory instrument to ensure that impacted markets remain fair and competitive; looks forward to seeing this instrument in the forthcomingwelcomes therefore, the Commission's suggestion in the Digital Markets Act proposal;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that some of the digital market players control ever larger volumes of data; underlines that data is a source of considerable economic power and leverage and therefore, recalls that competition policy is interlinked with taxation policy, and that fair tax treatment between undertakings is essential for the integrity of the internal market;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Welcomes the Commission’s efforts to combat unfair competition also in the digital sphere; considers that the fair market players, including SMEs would benefit from the rigorous application of the competition rules; asks the Commission, in this context, to further examine the abuse of dominant position of certain on-line platforms in order to ensure fair competition, boost jobs and sustainable growth;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Underlines that Territorial Supply Constraints (TSCs) are limitations imposed by a supplier that hinder to obtain goods freely; regrets the anti- competitive effects of persisting territorial supply constraints where retailers and wholesalers are faced with refusals to supply and destination obligations, with a negative impact on consumers who have less choice and pay higher prices; in this context, highlights that suppliers implement TSCs through different practices such as: refusing to supply, threatening to stop supplying a particular distributor, limiting the quantities available for sale, differentiating product ranges and prices between EU Member States or limiting language options for the product packaging; underlines that TSCs are hampering the development of the single market and its potential benefit to consumers; welcomes that the issue has in particular been touched upon in the Communication of the Commission on "A European retail sector fit for the 21st century" and as a follow-up to this Communication, the Commission launched in 2019 a fact-finding into TSCs in the EU retail sector; welcomes that the Commission launched the review of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER), and the accompanying Vertical Guidelines; beside that underlines the necessity to take into consideration the interests of SMEs, not least compared to international groups that have the means to deal with complex regulation; also stresses that Territorial Supply Constraints must be incorporated in the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) in order to remain consistent with the single market; calls on the Commission to come forth with adequate measures to eliminate territorial supply constraints and thereby reduce barriers to cross-border trade in view of a fully functioning Single Market;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Recalls that, in order to fight effectively against anti-competitive practices, all aspects of unfair competition - such as killer acquisitions - must be taken into consideration;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Welcomes the Commission's first short-term review of the Geo-blocking Regulation1a and calls on the Commission to continue actively monitoring and remove - with a pro-consumer approach allowing consumers to seamlessly shop across the EU - unjustified geo-blocking and other restrictions on cross-border online sales that persist as identified in the review; encourages the Commission to consider proposing follow-up appropriate measures; __________________ 1a COM(2020) 766 final
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the importance of clear measures to ensure effective enforcement and supervision of competition law at the EU level; underlines that the compliance of provisions must be reinforced with effective and proportionate penalties; urges the Commission to further strengthen the role of the European Consumers Centres Network (ECC-Net) in the spirit of the ECN+ Directive1a with a view to setting up an EU consumers authority; __________________ 1a OJ L 11, 14.1.2019, p.3
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that consumer protection must remain a central policy goal of both current enforcement practices and any future sectoral legislation; underlines that consumer welfare and the prevention of consumer harm must remain essential aspects of competition policy;