Retooling European competition policy: a discussion on Digital Markets

Details

Supervisors

Martin, Francis ; Luca Toffoletti

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences économiques, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

In recent years, digitalisation accelerated at a dizzying pace. The role of competition authorities has been challenged by the dynamics of digital markets. In the process of adaptation of competition law to the digital world, economic policymakers need to shape merger regulation in order not to raise potential competition concerns. The focus of this thesis is to understand how the vision and the way of judging the digital merger by the European Commission has changed over time. The objective would be to figure out if specific regulation for this type of market is needed. For this purpose, this work will analyse the main cases of mergers in the digital markets investigated by the European Commission reviewing the decisions taken by competition authorities and considering contributions from experts. Bottleneck power, economies of scale and scope, data are unique features of digital markets, which may amplify the harm these anti-competitive mergers can produce. In assessing digital markets mergers, the European Commission is retooling its competition policy and seeking new instruments to ensure fair competition on digital markets and benefits for society as a whole.