EU lawmakers agree on rules for high technology – FT By Reuters

(Reuters) – EU lawmakers have reached an agreement on how to target large tech companies as part of a move to curb anti-competitive practices in the digital economy, the Financial Times reported, https://on.ft.com/3Cs61eU. on Wednesday.

The main political parties in the European Parliament have agreed on an agreement that will be applied to companies with a market capitalization of at least 80 billion euros ($ 91 billion) and at least an Internet service, such as an online search, FT said, and direct knowledge of discussions.

The rules would include more companies than expected in the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the newspaper said, adding that the EU intends to implement the act next year.

The DMA, proposed by EU anti-competitive leader Margrethe Vestager last year, aims to limit the powers of large technology companies with a list of things to do and what to do.

The action will also help the national competition authority examine technology purchases from small rival purchases, amid fears of cheap access to competitors, according to the FT.

The Alphabet (NASDAQ 🙂 unit would include Google, Amazon (NASDAQ :), Apple (NASDAQ :), Facebook (NASDAQ 🙂 and Microsoft (NASDAQ 🙂 in its scope, along with the Chinese. Alibaba (NYSE 🙂 Group Holding and the Netherlands Reserves (NASDAQ :), the newspaper said.

The U.S. government has expressed concern that the new rules will come at the expense of U.S. companies, Reuters reported.

Last week, EU representatives agreed that the European Commission would be the only one to enforce the new technology rules.

EU ministers will formally ratify the agreement on 25 November, before it becomes law as part of the bloc’s common position ahead of negotiations with EU lawmakers and the Commission on the draft rule known as the DMA.

($ 1 = $ 0.8835)