The European Commission’s focus on the digital decade has led to several regulations covering the digital economy. The most important of the new digital regulations are the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Data Act and the AI Act.
All of these will have a significant influence on the work of both businesses and public authorities. Their aims include protecting consumers and improving competition between businesses. Yet there are problems with the drafting and design of these laws.
“The EU is taking a gamble here. Increasingly stringent digital regulations in Europe compared to other advanced markets may slow down technological development in the Union. The result could be that European businesses and users are deprived of access to cutting-edge technology”, says Carola Ekblad, the Confederation’s digital policy expert.
To analyse the impact of these key regulations from a business perspective, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise has commissioned the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)
The ECIPE report focuses on the design and structure of the regulations and their likely trade and economic impact. It also includes recommendations for politicians and officials to work on.
Trade policy expert Ingrid Serup says that the potential effects on both trade and trade policy are routinely neglected in the proposals and impact assessments. This, she feels, is remarkable, particularly given the importance of digital services to the European economy and the competitiveness of EU companies in providing such services.
“Future impact assessments should take more account of the fact that new rules can affect international trade and thus Europe’s international competitiveness”, she says.
A subsequent report will analyse how trade flows will be affected by the laws.
Digital infrastructureDigital Service ActTrade