File photo: The Facebook and Twitter logos will appear in the Malaga storefront in Spain on June 4, 2018. REUTERS / Jon Nazca / File photo

October 6, 2021

By Foo Yun Chee

Strasbourg (Reuters) – European Union lawmakers could lower the threshold for deciding which companies are subject to new technology rules, EU lawmakers said on Wednesday.

This suggestion could mean that some European companies, such as Booking.com, could join the list to which the rules apply. This should include major tech players such as Facebook, Google Alphabet Unit, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.

Margrethe Vestager, head of EU antitrust law, said her draft rules, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), dominate more than 6.5 billion euros with a market value of 65 billion euros ($ 75.03 billion). We want to limit the power of online businesses or gatekeepers. With European sales over the past three years.

Andreas Schwab, who heads the DMA in the European Parliament and has a higher market value of € 100 billion, said EU lawmakers are considering changing the threshold to a lower number. ..

“We have not yet found a final compromise, but my compromise should be 80 billion euros,” Schwab told Reuters in an interview.

“I hope there will soon be European companies with the same amount and the same sales in the DMA range,” he said, but none of them were nominated.

He said the new figures are based on the methodology used by the European Commission to calculate the proposed thresholds.

Booking.com, an online travel agency based in the Netherlands, has a market capitalization of around $ 100 billion based on data from Refinitiv.

Schwab also said national authorities should be given an opportunity to act after German and French antitrust monitoring agencies called for more voices in DMA enforcement, critics said. He said it could lead to fragmentation.

“Within the framework of the DMA, I think it is important that the national authorities have the right to request information from the guards,” he said.

“But it is clear that the custodian designation remains with the Commission and that most of the procedure will be carried out by the Commission.”

Mr Schwab said he hoped to reach an agreement with his fellow lawmakers soon so that Congress could vote on his bill. The next step is to break down the details with EU countries ahead of the adoption of DMA in 2023.

($ 1 = 0.8663 euros)

(Report by Foo Yun Chee, edited by Jane Merriman)