He added that these sanctions would only apply to companies that do not respect the EU’s rules, and that the toughest measures would only be used in exceptional circumstances.
The new draft rules known as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act will be announced on 2 December 2020. They aim to set out a list of do’s and don’ts for gatekeepers forcing them to share data with rivals and regulators and not to promote their services and products unfairly.
The new draft rules come as critics of US tech giants, which include companies and industry bodies, question the EU’s rulings against Alphabet’s unit Google, saying they have not curbed its allegedly anti-competitive behaviour.
The draft rules would allow the EU to ban companies or part of their services from the 27-country bloc as an extreme option. Until the draft rules are adopted EU antitrust and digital regulators do not currently have the power to impose such bans.
In a sign of how much tech firms fear the new regulation, Google unit launched in October 2020 a 60-day strategy to get US allies to push back against the EU’s digital chief.
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