Art. 19 Market investigation into new services and new practices | DMA regulation | DMA

This article grants the Commission a forward-looking investigative power that sits alongside the designation and enforcement mechanisms found elsewhere in the regulation.

Rather than targeting a specific gatekeeper for non-compliance, Article 19 is concerned with the evolution of the regulation itself — allowing the Commission to examine whether the digital sector has developed in ways that the current rules do not adequately capture.

This means investigating whether new services should be brought within scope as core platform services, or whether unfair or anti-contestable practices have emerged that the existing obligations do not effectively address.

The findings of such an investigation must feed directly into the legislative process, with the Commission required to report to the European Parliament and the Council and, where warranted, to accompany that report with concrete proposals to amend or supplement the regulation.

Important points:

The Commission is empowered to conduct market investigations to assess whether the scope of the regulation needs expanding — covering new services or new practices not currently addressed.
The Commission shall publish its findings in a report within 18 months from the opening of the market investigation, as defined under Article 16.
That report may be accompanied by a legislative proposal or a draft delegated act, meaning Article 19 investigations can directly trigger amendments to the regulation, including adding or removing services and obligations.

1. The Commission may conduct a market investigation for the purpose of examining whether one or more services within the digital sector should be added to the list of core platform services laid down in Article 2, point (2) or for the purpose of detecting practices that limit the contestability of core platform services or that are unfair and which are not effectively addressed by this Regulation. In its assessment, the Commission shall take into account any relevant findings of proceedings under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU concerning digital markets as well as any other relevant developments.
1. The Commission may, when conducting a market investigation pursuant to paragraph 1, consult third parties, including business users and end users of services within the digital sector that are being investigated and business users and end users who are subject to practices under investigation.
1. The Commission shall publish its findings in a report within 18 months from the date referred to in Article 16(3), point (a).
2. That report shall be submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council and, where appropriate, shall be accompanied by:
  1. a legislative proposal to amend this Regulation in order to include additional services within the digital sector in the list of core platform services laid down in Article 2, point (2), or to include new obligations in Chapter III; or
  2. a draft delegated act supplementing this Regulation with regard to the obligations laid down in Articles 5 and 6, or a draft delegated act amending or supplementing this Regulation with regard to the obligations laid down in Article 7, as provided for in Article 12.
3. Where appropriate, the legislative proposal to amend this Regulation under point (a) of the second subparagraph may also propose to remove existing services from the list of core platform services laid down in Article 2, point (2), or to remove existing obligations from Article 5, 6 or 7.