The Regulation of Digital Markets: Impacts and New Paradigms - A New Light in Competition Law?

The digital economy holds an ever increasing share of the world economy. The expansion of digital markets and their growing weight will therefore require specific regulatory attention to guarantee the contestability of the market, while promoting equity, transparency and, ultimately, the advancement of innovation. The structural specificities of digital markets call for some concerns of a competitive nature that a specific and complementary-minded regulation, on an ex ante basis, would be able to overcome, guaranteeing some stability to the market and the overall avoidance of any signs of underenforcement. Nevertheless, this regulatory approach is not without its trade-offs and risks, which are crucial in a market as dynamic as the digital one. To this end, the complementarity between ex ante intervention and ex post control is essential.