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EU: Vestager says they will update competition rules in light of increasing digitalization

By  |  December 9, 2019

The EU will review its rules on how it defines markets to react to increasing digitalisation, EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said Monday, December 9. According to Bloomberg, Vestager said it was time to review the EU’s market definition notice which has been in place since 1997. 

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    “Changes like globalization and digitization mean that many markets work rather differently from the way they did, 22 years ago,” Vestager said.

    Vestager’s move to forestall critics is to update guidelines dating back more than two decades on how enforcers define markets that companies operate in, she said in a speech in Brussels on Monday. She said the changes will tackle how digital firms have emerged “causing an earthquake in our markets” and how European customers are more willing to look for suppliers outside their home country.

    “The challenges we’re facing, at the start of this new decade, mean that we need to look again at the tools we use to enforce the competition rules,” she said. Regulators try to study how companies compete and how customers and suppliers interact with them, ultimately asking if customers can find an alternative “if prices go up, quality down or innovation stops,” she said.

    Full Content: Bloomberg

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