Digital Markets Act

Article 1 Subject matter and scope

The regulation aims to establish harmonised rules for contestable and fair digital markets where gatekeepers operate, applying to core platform services supplied to users in the Union regardless of where gatekeepers are established. It excludes electronic communications networks and services, except number-independent interpersonal communications services. Member States cannot impose additional gatekeeper obligations that fragment the internal market, but may regulate undertakings including gatekeepers on matters outside this regulation's scope.

Article 2 Definitions

A gatekeeper is an undertaking providing core platform services from nine categories: online intermediation, search engines, social networking, video-sharing platforms, number-independent interpersonal communications, operating systems, web browsers, virtual assistants, and cloud computing, plus advertising services alongside these. Ranking is the visibility or importance assigned to goods or services through intermediation, social networking, video-sharing, virtual assistant or search engine services, covering prominence in any technological format. The article defines further terms including information society services, digital sector, payment systems for in-app purchases, identification services, end users, business users, search results, data categories, undertakings, interoperability, profiling, and consent.

Article 3 Designation of gatekeepers

An undertaking qualifies as a gatekeeper if it has significant internal market impact, provides a core platform service through which business users substantially reach end users, and holds an entrenched and durable position; it is presumed to meet these criteria if it achieves annual EU turnover of 7.5 billion euros or more (or market value of 75 billion euros or more) for three consecutive years across at least three Member States, or if a core service reaches 45 million monthly active end users and 10,000 yearly active business users for three consecutive years. The Commission must designate a company as a gatekeeper within 45 working days if it meets all quantitative thresholds, unless the company submits substantiated arguments that it does not meet qualitative requirements, which the Commission may reject without detailed procedure; the Commission may also designate companies meeting qualitative but not all quantitative thresholds, considering factors such as size, turnover, data advantages, lock-in effects, vertical integration and foreseeable developments, or companies significantly failing to comply with investigative measures. Gatekeepers must be listed with the specific core platform services that are important gateways and must comply with obligations within 6 months of designation.

Article 4 Review of the status of gatekeeper

The Commission may reconsider, amend or withdraw gatekeeper designations whenever substantial factual changes occur or designations rest on incomplete, inaccurate or deceptive information. The Commission must review all gatekeepers at least every three years to assess continued compliance with gatekeeper criteria and whether the list of core platform services requiring obligations needs adjustment, and must review whether new undertakings meet gatekeeper requirements at least annually. The Commission publishes and maintains an ongoing list of gatekeepers and their relevant core platform services subject to regulatory obligations.

Article 5 Obligations for gatekeepers

Gatekeepers must not use personal data from third parties' use of their core services for advertising, combine personal data across their services or with third parties, or cross-use personal data between separate services without explicit or end user consent. They must allow business users to offer identical products at different prices through competing channels, allow free promotion and contracting with acquired users, allow end users to access content purchased outside the platform, not obstruct complaints to public authorities, not require use of their own identification, browser, payment or payment support services, and not condition access to one core service on registration with another. Gatekeepers must provide daily free information to advertisers and publishers on prices, fees, deductions, surcharges, calculation metrics and remuneration (or daily average remuneration or pricing if the other party withholds consent).

Article 6 Obligations for gatekeepers susceptible of being further specified under Article 8

Designated gatekeepers must comply with all obligations in Article 6 for each core platform service they provide: they cannot use non-public data generated by business users or their customers when competing with those users; must allow end users to easily uninstall non-essential software applications and easily change default settings in operating systems, virtual assistants and web browsers, including prompting users to select preferred defaults; must allow installation and use of third-party software applications and stores accessible outside their core platform services, and allow downloaded applications to prompt users to set them as default, subject to strictly necessary and proportionate security measures; must rank their own services and products no more favourably than similar third-party offerings under transparent, fair and non-discriminatory conditions; and must freely provide effective interoperability with and access to hardware and software features used by themselves to both service and hardware providers, freely provide advertisers, publishers and authorized third parties with access to advertising performance measurement tools and data for independent verification, and freely provide end users and authorized third parties with effective, continuous and real-time portability of user-generated data and data from using the core platform service with facilitating tools.

Article 7 Obligation for gatekeepers on interoperability of number-independent interpersonal communications services

Designated gatekeepers providing number-independent interpersonal communications services must make basic functionalities interoperable with other providers' services by providing free technical interfaces, with one-to-one text messaging and file sharing interoperable immediately upon listing, group text messaging and group-to-individual file sharing within 2 years, and one-to-one and group voice and video calls within 4 years, while preserving security and end-to-end encryption levels. End users remain free to choose whether to use interoperable functionalities, gatekeepers must limit personal data collection and exchange to what is strictly necessary for interoperability in compliance with GDPR and ePrivacy Directive requirements, and gatekeepers may take strictly necessary and proportionate measures to protect service integrity, security and privacy against third-party provider requests if duly justified.

Article 8 Compliance with obligations for gatekeepers

Specified measures must be proportionate to the gatekeeper's specific circumstances and service, and for Articles 6(11) and 6(12) must ensure no imbalance of rights and obligations between business users and the gatekeeper and no disproportionate advantage to the gatekeeper. The Commission may reopen proceedings if facts have materially changed, information was incomplete or misleading, or the specified measures are ineffective.

Article 9 Suspension

The Commission may exceptionally suspend a specific obligation from Articles 5, 6 or 7 if a gatekeeper demonstrates that compliance would endanger its economic viability in the Union due to exceptional circumstances beyond its control, and must adopt the decision within 3 months. The Commission must review suspension decisions annually and may provisionally suspend obligations urgently. Suspension may be conditional and subject to obligations to balance interests and achieve the regulation's objectives.

Article 10 Exemption for grounds of public health and public security

The Commission may exempt a gatekeeper wholly or partly from specific obligations in Articles 5, 6 or 7 only on grounds of protecting public health or public security, issuing a reasoned decision within 3 months of a complete request. The Commission must review any exemption annually or when circumstances change, and may provisionally suspend an obligation before the formal exemption decision in urgent cases.

Article 11 Reporting

Within 6 months of designation, gatekeepers must provide the Commission with a detailed transparent report describing measures implemented to comply with Articles 5, 6 and 7, and must publish and provide a non-confidential summary. Gatekeepers must update the report and summary at least annually, and the Commission must link to the summary on its website.

Article 12 Updating obligations for gatekeepers

The Commission may adopt delegated acts to extend, modify or supplement the obligations in Articles 5 and 6 following market investigations, including by extending obligations to other core platform services, business or end user categories, data types, or related services, or by specifying how to perform those obligations. The Commission may also adopt delegated acts to amend the list of basic functionalities in Article 7(2) or to specify how Article 7 obligations must be performed, both following market investigations identifying practices limiting contestability or unfairly similar to those addressed by existing obligations. A practice limits contestability or is unfair where it is engaged in by gatekeepers and impedes innovation and choice by creating barriers to entry or preventing competitors from accessing the same key inputs, or where it creates an imbalance of rights and obligations that gives the gatekeeper a disproportionate advantage relative to services provided to business users.

Article 13 Anti-circumvention

Gatekeepers must not artificially partition their services to evade quantitative gatekeeper thresholds, and must fully comply with and not undermine their obligations under Articles 5, 6 and 7. Gatekeepers must facilitate business users' collection of required consumer consent or provide anonymised data instead, and must not degrade service quality or make it unduly difficult for users exercising rights under those articles through interface design or other means.

Article 14 Obligation to inform about concentrations

Gatekeepers must notify the Commission of any planned merger, acquisition or concentration involving providers of core platform or digital sector services or data-collection services, whether or not the concentration is notifiable under other rules, before implementation and providing specified information about the undertakings, their turnover, fields, transaction value and the affected Member States. If the concentration results in additional services meeting gatekeeper thresholds, the gatekeeper must notify the Commission within 2 months of implementation.

Article 15 Obligation of an audit

Within 6 months of designation, gatekeepers must submit an independently audited description of their consumer profiling techniques to the Commission, which shares it with the European Data Protection Board. Gatekeepers must publicly disclose an overview of this description while protecting business secrets, and update both at least annually.

Article 16 Opening of a market investigation

The Commission adopts a decision to open a market investigation specifying the opening date, the issue under investigation and its purpose. The Commission may reopen a closed investigation if there has been a material change in underlying facts or if a previous decision relied on incomplete, incorrect or misleading information, and may request national authorities to assist.

Article 17 Market investigation for designating gatekeepers

The Commission may investigate whether an undertaking should be designated as a gatekeeper or which services should be listed, aiming to conclude within 12 months and communicating preliminary findings within 6 months. Where an undertaking meeting thresholds presents substantiated arguments disputing the presumption, the investigation should conclude within 5 months and preliminary findings communicated within 3 months. For undertakings not yet entrenched but foreseeably so, the Commission may apply only certain specified obligations.

Article 18 Market investigation into systematic non-compliance

The Commission may investigate whether a gatekeeper systematically infringed Articles 5, 6 or 7 while maintaining or extending its gatekeeper position, completing the investigation within 12 months (extendable by up to 6 months where objectively justified and proportionate) and imposing proportionate behavioural or structural remedies including temporary concentration prohibitions. Systematic non-compliance means the Commission issued at least three non-compliance decisions against the gatekeeper within 8 years before opening the investigation. The Commission must communicate preliminary findings to the gatekeeper within 6 months and publish a non-confidential summary for public comment, and must regularly review whether imposed remedies remain effective.

Article 19 Market investigation into new services and new practices

The Commission may examine whether additional services should join the list of core platform services or investigate practices limiting contestability or fairness of such services that this Regulation does not adequately address. Following consultation with business and end users, the Commission must report findings within 18 months to Parliament and Council, potentially accompanied by proposals to amend the Regulation or draft delegated acts on obligations.

Article 20 Opening of proceedings

The Commission must adopt a decision opening proceedings when it intends to pursue possible adoption of decisions under specified articles, though it may exercise investigative powers before formally opening proceedings.

Article 21 Requests for information

The Commission may request undertakings to provide information, data, algorithms and testing details through simple request or decision, specifying the legal basis, purpose, deadline and applicable fines for incomplete or misleading responses. Member States must provide requested information to the Commission, and undertakings remain responsible for the accuracy of information supplied by their lawyers.

Article 22 Power to carry out interviews and take statements

The Commission may interview consenting individuals or entities to gather information about an investigation and may record interviews by technical means. When interviewing on undertaking premises, the Commission must inform the national authority responsible for enforcing the underlying rules, whose officials may assist if they request to do so.

Article 23 Powers to conduct inspections

Commission officials may enter premises, examine business records, take copies, require explanations of organisations and practices including IT systems and algorithms, seal premises as necessary, and record explanations using technical means, with possible assistance from auditors, experts or national competent authorities. Undertakings must submit to Commission inspection decisions specifying subject, purpose and date, with applicable fines and periodic penalties indicated. National authorities must actively assist inspections and provide police assistance if the undertaking opposes; judicial authorisation may be required under national law, with courts verifying the Commission decision is authentic and coercive measures are proportionate.

Article 24 Interim measures

Article 25 Commitments

During proceedings, a gatekeeper may offer binding commitments to comply with obligations; the Commission may make these binding through an implementing act if acceptable. The Commission may reopen proceedings if circumstances materially change, the gatekeeper breaches commitments, information was incomplete or misleading, or commitments prove ineffective; the Commission must explain if it refuses to make commitments binding.

Article 26 Monitoring of obligations and measures

The Commission shall carry out actions to monitor how gatekeepers implement and comply with the core obligations in Articles 5, 6 and 7, as well as decisions from Articles 8, 18, 24, 25 and 29. These monitoring actions may include requiring gatekeepers to keep all relevant documents and may involve independent external experts, auditors, or national officials assisting the Commission.

Article 27 Information by third parties

Business users, competitors, end-users and their representatives may report to national competent authorities or the Commission any gatekeeper behaviour that appears to breach this regulation. The authorities have full discretion whether to act on such information. When a national authority determines from received information that non-compliance may have occurred, it shall inform the Commission.

Article 28 Compliance function

Gatekeepers must establish an independent compliance function with one or more compliance officers, including a head of compliance. The compliance function must have sufficient authority, resources and access to the management body. Compliance officers shall monitor compliance measures, advise staff, oversee commitments made binding under Article 25, and cooperate with the Commission.

Article 29 Non-compliance

The Commission adopts a non-compliance decision when it finds a gatekeeper fails to comply with core obligations in Articles 5, 6, 7, measures from Article 8 decisions, remedies under Article 18, interim measures from Article 24, or legally binding commitments from Article 25. The Commission shall try to decide within 12 months of opening proceedings, shall communicate preliminary findings to the gatekeeper, and shall order the gatekeeper to cease non-compliance within a deadline and explain how it will comply. The gatekeeper must provide descriptions of measures taken to ensure compliance.

Article 30 Fines

The Commission may impose fines on gatekeepers for intentional or negligent failure to comply with core obligations or decisions: up to 10 percent of worldwide turnover for first violations of Articles 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, 24, or 25; and up to 20 percent if the same or similar violation occurred within 8 years regarding the same service. The Commission may also fine undertakings and associations up to 1 percent of worldwide turnover for information, inspection, or compliance function failures and other procedural violations, adjusted by gravity, duration, recurrence and delay. When fining an insolvent association, the Commission may require member contributions, and if unpaid, direct payment from members whose representatives sat on the association's decision-making bodies, with each undertaking's liability capped at 20 percent of worldwide turnover; the Commission shall not require payment from undertakings that did not implement the infringement decision, were unaware of it, or actively distanced themselves before proceedings opened.

Article 31 Periodic penalty payments

The Commission may impose periodic penalty payments not exceeding 5 percent of average daily worldwide turnover per day to compel compliance with Article 8 measures, Article 18 remedies, Article 21 information requests, Article 23 inspections, Article 24 interim measures, Article 25 commitments, and Article 29 non-compliance decisions. Where compliance is achieved, the Commission may reduce the penalty payment amount by an implementing act adopted under the advisory procedure.

Article 32 Limitation periods for the imposition of penalties

The Commission may impose fines or periodic penalty payments within 5 years from when an infringement occurs, or from when a continuing or repeated infringement ends. Any Commission action for market investigation or proceedings, including requests for information, inspection authorisations, or opening of proceedings, interrupts this period. Each interruption restarts the 5-year period, but the Commission cannot impose penalties after twice the limitation period has elapsed without action.

Article 33 Limitation periods for the enforcement of penalties

The Commission may enforce penalties within 5 years from when its decision becomes final. Notifying amended penalty amounts or refusing variation requests, or any enforcement action by the Commission or Member States, interrupts this period and restarts the 5-year clock. Granting payment time or Court suspension of enforcement suspends the limitation period.

Article 34 Right to be heard and access to the file

Before adopting decisions under specified articles, the Commission must allow gatekeepers and undertakings to comment on its preliminary findings and intended measures within at least 14 days. Final decisions must be based only on findings that parties could comment on. Parties have rights to access the Commission's file subject to confidentiality protections, excluding internal documents and correspondence with Member States, though the Commission may disclose information needed to prove infringement.

Article 35 Annual reporting

The Commission must annually report to Parliament and Council on implementation of this Regulation and progress toward its objectives, including a summary of Commission activities, findings on gatekeeper compliance, assessment of audited descriptions, cooperation with national authorities, and activities of the High Level Group of Digital Regulators. The Commission shall publish these reports on its website.

Article 36 Professional secrecy

Information collected under this Regulation is used only for its purposes, except information from Article 14 which may also be used for merger rules and information from Article 15 which may also be used for the General Data Protection Regulation. The Commission, Member State authorities, officials, and appointed experts must not disclose information subject to professional secrecy unless exchanged for permitted purposes including inter-agency coordination.

Article 37 Cooperation with national authorities

The Commission and Member States must cooperate closely and synchronise their enforcement efforts to ensure consistent, effective and complementary application of legal tools against gatekeepers. The Commission may consult national authorities on matters concerning this Regulation's implementation.

Article 38 Cooperation and coordination with national competent authorities enforcing competition rules

The Commission and national competition authorities must cooperate through the European Competition Network, exchanging information about enforcement actions, including confidential information. When a national authority launches an investigation into gatekeepers under national competition law, it must inform the Commission in writing at or before the start of its first formal investigative measure. Draft measures imposing obligations on gatekeepers must be communicated to the Commission at least 30 days before adoption, or immediately after adoption for interim measures.

Article 39 Cooperation with national courts

National courts may request information or opinions from the Commission on applying this Regulation, and must forward copies of written judgments deciding on its application. The Commission may submit written or oral observations to national courts to support coherent application. National courts must not adopt decisions conflicting with Commission decisions and should avoid decisions conflicting with contemplated Commission decisions, potentially staying their proceedings.

Article 40 The high-level group

The Commission establishes a high-level group composed of five European regulatory bodies and networks, each with equal representation up to 30 members total, chaired by the Commission and meeting at least annually. The group advises the Commission on implementation and enforcement matters, identifies interactions with sector-specific rules, and may recommend amendments to keep digital markets fair and contestable.

Article 41 Request for a market investigation

Member States may submit requests to the Commission to initiate market investigations: a group of three or more may request investigation of whether an undertaking qualifies as a gatekeeper, or whether a gatekeeper has breached obligations and strengthened its position; one or more may request investigation of systematic violations of core obligations; and three or more may request investigation into whether services should be added to the core platform services list or whether unaddressed practices threaten contestability or fairness. Requests must include supporting evidence, and the Commission shall assess within four months whether grounds exist to proceed and shall publish its findings.

Article 42 Representative actions

The rules in Directive (EU) 2020/1828 apply to lawsuits brought by representatives against gatekeepers for breaching this Regulation when such breaches harm or might harm consumers' collective interests.

Article 43 Reporting of breaches and protection of reporting persons

The rules in Directive (EU) 2019/1937 apply to reporting any breaches of this Regulation and to protecting persons who make such reports.

Article 44 Publication of decisions

The Commission must publish decisions on gatekeeper designation, exemptions, compliance measures, market investigations, remedies, and penalties, stating parties' names and decision content, while respecting confidential information of gatekeepers and third parties.

Article 45 Review by the Court of Justice

The Court of Justice has full power to review Commission decisions imposing fines or periodic penalty payments, and may cancel, reduce or increase them.

Article 46 Implementing provisions

The Commission may adopt implementing acts detailing procedures for notifications, technical compliance measures, interoperability arrangements, audits of profiling techniques, regulatory reports, proceedings, hearings, disclosure, cooperation with national authorities, and deadline calculations; most acts use an advisory procedure, while cooperation arrangements use an examination procedure, and the Commission must publish drafts for at least one month of public comment.

Article 47 Guidelines

The Commission may adopt guidelines on any aspect of this Regulation to support its effective implementation and enforcement.

Article 48 Standardisation

The Commission may instruct European standardisation bodies to develop standards supporting implementation of this Regulation's obligations.

Article 49 Exercise of the delegation

The Commission holds delegated powers under specified articles for a five-year term beginning on 1 November 2022, after which authority extends automatically for identical periods unless the European Parliament or Council objects at least three months in advance. The Commission shall consult member state experts before adopting delegated acts and must notify both Parliament and Council simultaneously; delegated acts take effect after a two-month objection period unless either institution objects, with the period extendable by either institution. Either institution may revoke delegated powers at any time, and revocation does not invalidate acts already in force.

Article 50 Committee procedure

A Digital Markets Advisory Committee assists the Commission under the rules of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011, and the Commission must communicate its opinion alongside decisions to the addressee and publish it publicly subject to professional secrecy protection.

Article 51 Amendment to Directive (EU) 2019/1937

The Regulation is added to the list of EU instruments covered by the whistleblower protection directive.

Article 52 Amendment to Directive (EU) 2020/1828

The Regulation is added to the list of EU instruments covered by the consumer collective redress directive.

Article 53 Review

The Commission must evaluate the Regulation by 3 May 2026 and every 3 years thereafter, assessing whether contestable and fair markets have been achieved, the impact on business users and SMEs, and whether the scope to cover social networking services should expand, then report to the European Parliament, Council and European Economic and Social Committee. Member States must provide relevant information the Commission requires for these evaluations.

Article 54 Entry into force and application

The Regulation enters into force twenty days after publication and applies from 2 May 2023, except delegated power and committee procedures which apply from 1 November 2022 and Articles 42-43 which apply from 25 June 2023 or 2 May 2023 if later; it is binding and directly applicable throughout the Union. An annex specifies how to identify and calculate monthly active end users and annual active business users per core platform service, requiring undertakings to use best approximation with common principles and allowing the Commission to verify calculations without authorizing user tracking. Services are distinct if used for different purposes or belonging to different categories; measurement criteria vary by the eight service categories from online intermediation to web browsers, with engagement thresholds such as monthly play/query/upload for video platforms, monthly activation for operating systems, and annual publication of applications or services.