10. November 2021

Ecommerce Europe’s Comments on the definition of
‘active end users’ in the Digital Markets Act

According to the European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector (Digital Markets Act or DMA), the process for the designation of gatekeepers would be defined by a set of quantitative thresholds focusing on features that would make unfair conduct weakening contestability most prevalent and impactful. The rules were intended to apply to providers of core platform services that individually constitute an important gateway for business users to reach end users, and enjoy an entrenched and durable position in its operations or it is foreseeable that they will do so in the near future.

With this statement, Ecommerce Europe would like to share its comments on the annex proposed by the Slovenian Presidency on 20 September 2021 and the currently suggested wording in the European Parliament’s compromise amendments. Ecommerce Europe believes the proposed definition of an ‘active end user’ does not properly reflect the reality on an e-commerce marketplace, we therefore suggest differentiating between active customers and visitors. We also would like to propose alternative wording for the co-legislators to consider.