Resolution on the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) establishes a harmonised ex ante regulatory framework to ensure fair, open and contestable digital markets throughout the EU. Its early implementation confirms its importance as a key instrument in improving market openness and fairness, competition and user choice in the EU, and underlines that all businesses operating in the EU, regardless of size or origin, must fully respect and comply with EU law.

Parliament reaffirmed that effective, timely and consistent enforcement of the DMA, as well as the political support of the Commission, is essential to safeguarding the functioning of the single market and to ensuring tangible benefits for consumers, business users and innovators across the EU. It expressed concern over political pressure from third countries urging the EU to reconsider or weaken the DMA and underlined that such external interference must not compromise the EU’s sovereignty and its autonomy to define and enforce its own rules. The DMA obligations apply equally to all designated gatekeepers providing services in the EU, irrespective of their place of establishment or nationality.

The Commission is called on to make full and proactive use of all enforcement instruments provided for under the DMA, market investigations, including non-compliance proceedings, inspections, interim measures, fines and periodic penalty payments, in order to prevent circumvention and ensure effective compliance.

Parliament stressed that, while the Commission retains exclusive competence for the enforcement of the DMA, effective, timely and consistent application of the regulation across the EU requires structured and close cooperation with national competition authorities and other relevant national public bodies. The Commission is called on to conclude non-compliance proceedings without undue delay and ensure timely enforcement under the DMA and keep Parliament duly informed of the progress of enforcement.

The resolution stressed that compliance with the DMA must be assessed on the basis of its practical and real-world effects on market openness, competition, innovation and user choice, thus ensuring legal certainty, predictability and equal treatment.

Parliament expressed grave concern regarding Google’s persistent self-preferencing practices across its search, shopping, travel and video services, which continue to distort competition and limit consumer choice. Recent proceedings before national courts have confirmed that Google’s self-preferencing practices in search services harmed competing comparison platforms. Moreover, Google’s integration of AI into its search and discovery processes increasingly allows the company to control the entire consumer journey – from search and recommendations to intent to purchase – further marginalising competing services and reducing consumers’ ability to make independent choices.

Regarding consent mechanisms, these should be transparent, user-friendly, and genuinely voluntary, without manipulative design or psychological pressure. The Commission is called on to closely monitor TikTok’s consent practices and to ensure that any non-compliant mechanisms are promptly corrected to uphold user autonomy and digital rights.

Members called on the Commission to ensure consistent and future-proof application of the DMA to technological developments, by addressing AI-driven services and cloud-based infrastructure in a timely way. In addition, Parliament called on the Commission to ensure complementarity, coherence and legal certainty between the DMA, the Data Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act, including through coordinated guidance and implementation.

The Commission is called on to ensure sufficient human and financial resources for DMA enforcement. Members expect that the forthcoming review of the DMA will be transparent and firmly grounded in enforcement experience and evidence from its application, including an assessment of real-world outcomes for users and markets.