Industry Updates

'SAMENA Daily' - News

Europe’s Digital Chief Vows to Intervene on Technology Abuses

For many American technology companies, it often feels as if Europe is out to get them.

At the Mobile World Congress this week, Andrus Ansip, the digital chief at the European Commission, reaffirmed the region’s tough stance on anticompetitive practices, data protection and tax avoidance. But he tried to play down those concerns by companies in the United States.

Many of the top Silicon Valley tech companies, including Google and Apple, have faced regulatory challenges in Europe. They have been accused of taking advantage of their market dominance and using complicated tax arrangements to limit local tax exposure, accusations they have contested.

In an interview at the industry gathering here, Mr. Ansip noted that “it’s acceptable that some companies have dominant positions.” But Mr. Ansip, the former prime minister of Estonia, added that “if there are doubts that they are abusing their dominant position, of course, the European Commission will be there to intervene.”

His comments come as Europe’s antitrust chiefs continue what has been a four-year competition investigation into Google’s dominance of the region’s online search market, of which the company controls roughly 85 percent.

Rivals — including Microsoft, itself the target of a long-running antitrust case in Europe — have complained that Google has used its dominance to give preferential treatment to its other online services. The search giant has denied these accusations.

Some European telecommunications operators have called for increased regulation of services like online search and social networking.

Industry executives say that these services often compete with those of traditional European carriers, which must comply with more onerous rules than their counterparts in the United States.

“We can’t live in a world where we compete but we have one arm tied behind our backs, and they don’t,” Pierre Louette, deputy chief executive at the French telecom operator Orange, said at the conference. “When it comes to search, you have a limited choice.”

As Europe tries to reignite its sputtering economy, Mr. Ansip is set to introduce a number of regulatory proposals in May aimed at creating a so-called single digital market across the 28-country bloc.

Currently, services like movie streaming, as well as online copyright and data protection, are all regulated at the national level. The European Commission hopes that by creating a single digital market across Europe, local and non-European tech businesses will be able to flourish.

“The online market is really fragmented,” Mr. Ansip said. “I wish that everything that is possible in the offline world can be allowed to happen online.”

Europe’s attempt to reposition its digital economy, however, faces a number of challenges.

The European Union is working on finalizing so-called open Internet rules — similar to what was approved by the United States Federal Communications Commission last week — that would forbid carriers from blocking or throttling online traffic. Operators also would not be able to charge for pay-to-play access to their networks, which allow some tech and media companies to pay for better access than what is offered to other customers.

These proposals, known collectively as net neutrality, have angered many in the industry who say they must be allowed to prioritize some Internet traffic to manage their networks efficiently.

Europe also plans to revamp its data protection rules, already some of the most stringent in the world. The new rules would provide for fines of up to $125 million, or 5 percent of a company’s revenue, whichever was greater, if an individual’s online information were misused.

Many Europeans favor such proposals, although some American tech companies, which often move individuals’ personal data between Europe and the United States, have said that the rules could hamper how they manage their operations.

“Trust is the basis for all digital services,” Mr. Ansip said when asked about the role of data protection in Europe’s pending regulatory overhaul. “Trust is an absolute must.”



Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/europes-digital-regulator-vows-to-intervene-on-technology-abuses/?_r=0

ATTENTION