Digital Platforms as a Challenge to Competition Policy – Does Competition Law need a Digital Update? - Suggestions for an Update to Australian Competition Law -

Abstract

In its “Discussion Paper for Interim Report No. 5” of February 2022, the ACCC asked for suggestions on updating competition and consumer law for digital platform services. This paper addresses the larger issues involved from a specifically “European perspective”. To these ends, the discussion draws on the new German platform rules in Sec. 19a ARC of January 2021. The EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been pubished in the Official Journal on October 12, 2022 and will apply from 2 May 2023. However, the main focus will not be on specific rules or details, but rather on the fundamental questions that need to be addressed in Europe as well as in Australia and around the globe. Namely: What is the principal issue to be solved? Do existing competition law tools need an update? Finally, how should an update be designed to promote (rather than impede) competition, innovation and consumer welfare?

Keywords: gatekeepers, digital economy, DMA, ACCC, Austrialian competition law

JEL Classification: K21, K23