The EU is dedicated to becoming a "global role model for the digital economy" and to spreading its regulatory model beyond the EU's borders. In a background article for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Amélie Heldt assesses the enforcement mechanisms of EU laws on platform regulation.
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Abstract
The EU’s goal is to become a “global role model for the digital economy” and to promote its regulatory model beyond the EU’s borders. As stated on the European Commission’s webpage entitled Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, “The European Union will aim to become a global role model for the digital economy, support developing economies in going digital, develop digital standards and promote them internationally.” The paper examines enforcement mechanisms in light of the DSA Package (comprising the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA)), born of an initiative to update the eCommerce Directive, and the AI Act. It examines whether the new authorities created by these regulations will interface well with existing national authorities and how they interconnect with new authorities mentioned in other bills. Ideally, the result would be a common front for oversight and enforcement. The paper opens by presenting the context of the current regulatory discussion and the proposals, taking a closer look at enforcement mechanisms. Next, it examines the proposals in terms of coordination at the vertical and horizontal levels to determine whether (as currently drafted) they would lead to harmonization or fragmentation. Finally, it concludes by looking into the question of whether this model could become a de facto standard in the global regulatory context.
Heldt, A. (2021): Gearing Up for the Digital Decade? Assessing the Enforcement Mechanisms of the EU’s Platform Regulation Bills. https://il.boell.org/en/2021/12/23/gearing-digital-decade-assessing-enforcement-mechanisms-eus-platform-regulation-bills, 23 November 2021
