Access to App Stores: Prof. Podszun at the DMA Workshop

The app stores on smartphones are the central access points into the mobile ecosystems: If you want to be found with your services on a smartphone, you have to do business with the two big operators Alphabet (Google Android phones) and Apple (iPhones). But on what terms? Prof. Dr. Rupprecht Podszun, Director of the Institute for Competition Law at Heinrich Heine University, discussed this question at a workshop in Brussels on 6 March 2023 at the invitation of the European Commission.

The reason for the workshop is a new EU regulatory framework, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which subjects digital gatekeepers such as Apple or Google to stricter rules. The obligations do not yet apply, but the DMA team of the European Commission seeks the exchange with experts how the new rules can be implemented. The access conditions for app stores are the subject of Art. 6 (12) DMA. Professor Podszun was the academic expert on the panel. He spoke about how access conditions can be "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" (FRAND).

He was joined in the discussion by Mike Sax from the app developer organisation The App Association, Petra Wikström from the Scandinavian media company Schibstedt, Jared Sine from the Match Group (which operates the Tinder app, among others) and Oliver Bethell, Google's chief competition lawyer for Europe. The panel was moderated by Thomas Kramler (EU Commission). Prof. Podszun's team has worked on DMA issues from the start of the legislative project. A detailed article-by-article commentary on the Digital Markets Act, edited by Professor Podszun, will be published shortly.

Further information on the EU Commission workshop: https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/dma/dma-workshops/app-stores-workshop_en