KONCEPT `GATEKEEPERS` PREMA AKTU EU O DIGITALNIM TRŽIŠTIMA

Abstract

The Еuropean Union’s (hereafter: EU) involvement in the field of digitalization and digital transformation has been already well known. Not only the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament did proclaim the European Declaration of Digital Rigts and Principles in 2022, but in the same year the EU adopted the so-called Digital Service Package, divided into two legislative acts: the “Digital Service Act” and the “Digital Markets Acts”. The focus of this paper is on the latter legal source, i.e. Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 14, 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828 (EU Digital Markets Act). The crucial elements of Digital Markets Act (hereafter: EU DMA) scope of application is two concepts “gatekeepers” and “core platform services”. Although mentioned concepts are considered inseparable in the literature (“twin concepts”), the author of this paper deals in more detail with the concept of “gatekeepers”. The focus of the analysis is on the conditions that, in terms of the provisions of the EU DMA, a certain digital platform should meet in order to acquire the status of “gatekeepers”.