The UK has passed a bill that is the country’s version of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). MPs quickly followed suit Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill Before Parliament was dissolved on May 30 ahead of general elections in July.
The main objective of DMCC viz will become law After receiving Royal Assent, it is “to regulate and increase competition in digital markets”. It will come into effect at the end of this year.
The bill is broadly similar to the DMA, which led the EU to designate several large tech companies’ services and products as “gatekeepers” and subject them to stricter regulations. The DMCC empowers the Digital Markets Unit (DMU), a division of the Competition and Markets Authority, to label companies with “significant and robust market power” and a “strategically important position” as having Strategic Market Status (SMS).
Among other things, SMS companies will have to adhere to the code of conduct set by the DMU. These will be based on the principles of fair trade, openness, trust and transparency. The DMU has a wide canvas to define the behavioral requirements for each business. If a company violates its code of conduct, it faces a fine of up to 10% of its global revenue.
There are suggestions that users like Meta and Google can be forced Pay UK news publishers Google News (and maybe even for an AI productetc.). There are others he suggested May be requested from Apple Allow sideloading and third-party app stores on iOS, as in the EU. Companies may also be prohibited from prioritizing their products and services in search results. However, the specific requirements for each SMS are not yet detailed.
The DMCC also affects things like subscriptions, junk payments, fake reviews, ticket reselling, mergers, antitrust, and consumer protection. For the first time, the CMA will have the power to impose large fines if it finds a company has breached consumer law, without having to go through the courts.
