The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Gatekeepers Jeanne Kelly, founding partner of the first international office of Browne Jacobson

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is EU regulation that aims to create a safer, fairer and more transparent online environment. Last month the European Commission unveiled its list of online services designated as “gatekeepers”, under the DMA. Gatekeepers will now have six months to adapt to strict antitrust practices or face up to 20% global annual turnover fines. Ronan Spoke to Jeanne Kelly a technology lawyer and one of the founding partners of the first international office of Browne Jacobson in Dublin about this.

Jeanne talks about her background, the DMA, and gatekeepers

More about the DMA and gatekeepers:

European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, announced that the list of gatekeepers includes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta, and Microsoft.

These companies must appoint a “DMA compliance officer, directly reporting to their board, and inform the Commission of any planned major acquisition”.

The ‘Revolutionary’ Digital Markets Act aims to allow more competition and let consumers delete preloaded phone apps.

The “gatekeeper” designation concerns companies owning “core platform services” that control digital market access between corporate sellers and end-consumers in the digital space.

The definition is wide and concerns search engines, social media, intermediation services or exploitation systems.