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EU Panel To Scale Down “Market Investigation Tool”

By  |  December 2, 2020

The European Commission’s “market investigation tool,” expected to feature as part of the upcoming Digital Markets Act, will be scaled-down and its powers limited after the EU executive’s internal review panel raised concerns over its operation, two sources close to the matter have told EURACTIV.

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    The Commission’s regulatory scrutiny board, an independent body that advises the executive on its legislative texts, is believed to have recently aired its opposition, for a second time, on the details of the market investigation tool in the Digital Markets Act, which the Commission is set to present on December 9.

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    The EU executive had originally intended the tool to investigate markets close to failure, particularly in the digital economy, and impose case-by-case remedies as necessary.

    However, EURACTIV has learnt that following criticism from the regulatory scrutiny board, the power of the tool is likely to be restricted.

    The apparatus is to be stripped of powers that would have allowed it to impose remedies for uncovering market failures, because of concerns over the “legal basis” of the tool, in light of powers that EU competition regulators already have.

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