But Guerssess minimized speculations on the size of these fines, saying that it was not logical to compare them with fines imposed in the past for antitrust violations, such as 1.8 billion euros that the Commission inflicted a fine on Apple in March of last year for abusive rules of App.
Indeed, the antitrust penalties reflect repeated offenses, according to Guersent. “Antitrust fines are the result of a very long-lasting offense,” he said. As the DMA has only one year, “by definition, DMA violations cannot be repeated” and the duration of non-compliance will be “short,” he added.
Among the European Parliament Tuesday morning, the competition commissioner, Teresa Ribera, said that the Commission was determined to enforce the DMA and imposed fines on the great technological players who were hearing of violation of the law.
“If we do not see the will to cooperate, we will not hesitate to impose the fines identified by law,” said Ribera. The Commissioner noted that the EU executive was preparing to issue decisions in counterfeiting in the near future.
Companies which are in violation of the DMA can be sentenced to a fine of up to 10% of their global turnover. This can go up to 20% in the event of a repeated offense.
The justification for the DMA is compliance, not punishment, said Guers, adding that “in a normal world”, when the DMA is operational, companies should not be sanctioned under it.
When asked if the application of the DMA would be stopped or watered in the context of broader commission priorities in a tense geopolitical environment, he said: “I have no indication that this will happen.”
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