DMA enforcement: Trends and gaps in the first year of application 

2024 Call for Papers

Starting from March 7th, the gatekeepers designated by the European Commission under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) are called to comply with the obligations under this new regulatory framework. Both business users and end users should be able to see and profit from tangible change in gatekeepers’ practices. Questions around how to enforce the DMA are joined by new ones, namely: is it working? How can compliance with the rules be assessed? Is the regulatory dialogue leading to good results? What does the evidence say about enforcement? What are the main procedural challenges? 

Regulators and gatekeepers will continue to face novel issues in this crucial first year of enforcement. They need to interpret and apply the DMA in a way that guarantees its full potential and leads to the achievement of its main goals, amidst ongoing debate concerning which goals should prevail and guide enforcement. And now that gatekeepers are responding (or not), regulators have more to assess and, eventually, to impose. The simple fact that less than a month from ‘compliance day’ the European Commission decided to investigate Apple, Google and Meta over failing to follow new digital rules shows that successful enforcement is not an easy task, and far from granted.

Building on a number of themes explored last year, this year’s call for papers seeks to gather research that could help regulators in this crucial enforcement phase, as well as research that provides a better understanding of the legal, economic, and technical challenges and opportunities linked to current compliance moves. Once again, the goal is to provide a space for independent scholars and regulators to have an open dialogue and discuss relevant research.

Call for Abstracts

This call for abstracts aims to gather original work by scholars addressing so far overlooked legal, economic and technical compliance challenges and to stimulate research and debate on the implementation of DMA rules. We particularly welcome scholarly contributions that address one of the following themes, but other proposals fitting the general objectives of this call are welcome as well:

Cluster 1: The overall framework 

  • Interpretative issues and how to ensure coordination among the enforcement of the individual rules
  • Regulatory dialogue, compliance reports, consumer profiling reports, transparency reports, and stakeholders’ participation
  • Enforcement and cooperation issues between the Commission, the NCAs, and other relevant bodies
  • Compliance monitoring: who, what, and how (and necessary safeguards)
  • Designation decisions
  • Future proofing: additional core platform services and obligations

Cluster 2: Specific obligations and compliance measures, such as

  • Self-preferencing between guiding principles and concrete measures
  • Default settings, choice screens
  • Technical aspects of interoperability under Article 6 and 7 
  • App stores: billing, alternative app marketplaces, anti-steering, web apps
  • Data-related obligations (combination, portability, access)
  • Compliance benchmarks: obligation-specific vs. principle based
  • FRAND terms under Article 6(12)

Scholars are invited to submit an extended abstract 600-800 words long (excluding bibliography), which must describe:

  1. Research question(s)
  2. Methodology
  3. Main (expected) findings of the paper
  4. Contributions to literature and/or ongoing policy debates

Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches are warmly encouraged. Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to discuss their elaborated draft during a symposium in Brussels in  November 2024. The symposium will count on the presence of members of this call’s Scientific Committee, as well as keynote speakers, including high level members of the European Commission. 

There will be the possibility for a focused subset of accepted papers to be fast-tracked for publication in a relevant journal [details to be communicated soon]. 

The extended abstract must be uploaded to the submission platform by 30 July 2024, 23.59h (in the submitter’s timezone). When submitting their abstract, scholars are required to disclose any funding or support they receive for their work. Details on the submission platform will be communicated soon.  Individual abstracts will be reviewed in a double blind peer-review. Please do not include names or any other identifiable information on the uploaded file or in the text of the abstract you submit to the platform. The platform records the author name(s) and contact information: the programme committee chair will be able to see that information. Full papers should only be submitted upon invitation, following the selection of abstracts. For further information on the submission process please contact [email protected].

Important dates:

  • Submission portal opens: Monday, 20 May
  • Deadline for abstracts submission: Tuesday, 30 July
  • Notification to authors of acceptances/rejections: Monday, 16 September
  • Accepted authors confirm attendance: Monday, 24 September
  • Symposium: 20-21 November

Scientific Committee:

Anna Rita Bennato, Associate Professor in Economics, Loughborough Business School, United Kingdom
Ian Brown, Visiting Professor, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil
Joanna Bryson, Professor of Ethics and Technology, Hertie School, Berlin, Germany
Chiara Caccinelli, Deputy Head of the Economic Analysis and Digital Affairs Unit, ARCEP, France
Kati Cseres, Associate professor, Amsterdam Center for European Law & Governance, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Agustina del Campo, Director of CELE, University of Palermo, Argentina
Tomaso Duso, Professor, TU Berlin, Germany
Lapo Filistrucchi, Professor, University of Florence and European University Institute
Stavros Makris, Lecturer in Competition law, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Helena Malikova, Fellow, Hertie School Center for Digital Governance, Berlin, Germany
Maria Luisa Stasi, Head of Law and Policy for digital markets, ARTICLE 19 and Researcher, Tilburg Law School, The Netherlands
Simonetta Vezzoso, Professor, University of Trento, Italy
Giacomo Tagiuri, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam

Submission portal

For any queries about this call, please write to [email protected].