National competition authorities want role in Digital Markets Act enforcement

A paper endorsed by the heads of the EU’s 27 national competition authorities argues that the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) should be in charge of enforcing the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), while national competition authorities should also have a role to play. These authorities “have gathered unique experience in the digital economy and could therefore be an additional relay for the enforcement of the DMA, in order to ensure its full effectiveness and complementarity with competition enforcement”.

State aid – Spain extends high-speed broadband services with funds from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility

The European Commission approved under EU state aid rules a two-year extension of an existing Spanish scheme to support the deployment of 300 Mbps (symmetric) broadband internet access services that are upgradable to 1 Gbps. The additional €200m of state aid, bringing the total to €600m, will be made available from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility.

UK competition authority launches market study into mobile ecosystems

The market study, to be concluded within a year, will examine whether Apple and Google’s control over key gateways of their respective mobile ecosystems is stifling competition across a range of digital markets, focusing on potential sources of harm to consumers. As a first step, the authority is inviting comments from interested parties until 26 July 2021.