The Expert Group on the Online Platform Economy identified a broad range of policy issues requiring further research.
The P2B Regulation is now into force: The EU adopted the Platform to Business Regulation (P2B) in July 2019, to increase transparency and improve dispute resolution in the interaction between online platforms and the businesses that use them. On 10 July 2020, to coincide with the Regulation coming into effect, the EC published guidance to assist online intermediation services and search engines in adjusting to the new rules, which apply to platforms serving businesses or consumers based in the EU.
Scrutiny of online platforms’ activity continues: The EC also published three reports from the Expert Group for the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy – on relevant economic indicators that can be used to measure the online platform economy, on data, and on differentiated treatment. The three reports highlight imbalances in market power in the relationship between platforms and their business users in terms of both access to and the use of data, and of discrimination in the online platform economy.
The reports identify a wide range of issues: A number of policy issues arise in relation to how far the access to and possession of significant data sets by certain online platforms could create entry barriers, market power, or preferential treatment of platforms’ own goods and services. The report on differentiated treatment recommends further research into how vertical integration affects practices of differentiated treatment (whereby a platform applies dissimilar conditions to business users in equivalent situations), and on the functioning of redress mechanisms for businesses facing restrictions or termination of service by online platforms. Finally, the report on measurement provides a section on methodology and a set of key relevant economic indicators that help to underpin these findings. Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on these reports by 8 September 2020.
