Seven companies including Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp say they meet the EU’s new criteria of “gatekeeper” that means they have to meet tougher rules, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said yesterday.
Samsung Electronics Co and TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) also unexpectedly said they would meet the criteria, although TikTok disputed whether it should be included on the list. Booking.com said it expected to fall into the gatekeeper category next year.
Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force in November last year, companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a 75 billion euro (US$81.75 billion) market capitalization are considered gatekeepers providing a core platform service.
Photo: Reuters
Companies labeled as such are required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and allow users to decide which apps to pre-install on their devices.
They would not be allowed to favor their own services over rivals’ or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or apps — two rules that would hit Google and Apple hard.
“Europe is completely reorganizing its digital space to both better protect EU citizens and enhance innovation for EU start-ups and companies,” Breton said in a statement.
Companies can be fined up to 10 percent of annual global turnover for DMA contraventions.
The European Commission did not provide details of the companies’ core online services subject to DMA rules.
It is to confirm the gatekeeper designation by Sept. 6 after checking the data provided by the companies, which would then have six months to comply with the DMA rules.
TikTok said that while it meets the DMA’s quantitative criteria, it falls short of the overall requirements set out under the rule which requires a gatekeeper to have an “unavoidable platform to conducting online business in the EU” and be an “entrenched” gateway between consumers and businesses.
Booking.com said it expected to meet the gatekeeper threshold by the end of the year and would then notify the EU executive. It fell short of the quantitative threshold ahead of Monday’s notification to the commission due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RSS