Abstract

The Digital Markets Act is a regulation with which the EU legislator aims to curb the market power of platforms operating in digital markets. The regulation is clearly inspired by the rules set up to protect competition, so much so that some cases clearly take their cue from antitrust cases already dealt with by the Commission or national competition authorities. The aim pursued by the supranational legislator is in fact identifiable in that of attempting to prevent certain anti-competitive behaviour by multinationals operating in the digital sector and to allow European companies to participate in the data market. However, it seems reductive to trace the inspiration of this Act solely to the rules repressing competition. It is, in fact, part of the European Union order and, as such, fully shares its values, including those set out in the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. Among the rights guaranteed by that Declaration, the protection of users' personal data is of particular importance. In this context, the protection of personal data becomes an autonomous parameter for assessing the behaviour of so-called “gatekeepersµ (the most influential platforms according to the requirements provided for in the regulation), who are required to comply with certain additional obligations over and above those already imposed by the GDPR.