The technology industry represents an essential part of the economy today. Software
development and the consequent digital transformation have expanded exponentially,
permeating all other sectors. The challenges of the dynamic markets associated with this
expansion triggered regulators’ scrutiny, mainly with concerns about abuse of a dominant
position. Of particular note, digital markets exhibit an inherent network effect, where
natural competition (no anti-competitive behavior) tends to produce only one or two
companies of scale – until the next inevitable market disruption occurs. Competition
enforcement has already addressed concerns related to digital markets, including issues
invoked by the inception impact assessments for both proposals – ex-ante regulation, and
the New Competition Tool (NCT), respectively.
