European Parliament advocates stronger online competition rules

In the debate on the European Commission’s Annual Competition Report, the policy makers found consensus on the fact that the completion of the Digital Single Market needs stronger European rules that regulate fair competition.

They stated that access to for example big data, search engines, and online comparison sites should be made transparent and feasible for all online players, be it big US technology companies or small European web shops.

In December 2013, the European Commission launched investigations at the premises of a number of companies active in the manufacture, distribution and retail of consumer electronics products and small domestic appliances.

The Commission has grounds to suspect that the companies subject to the inspections may have put in place restrictions on online sales of their products, which may lead to higher consumer prices or the unavailability of products through certain online sales channels.