The European Commission is planning to introduce legislation to address unfair contractual clauses and trading practices in relations between online platforms and businesses, reports Reuters. In a mid-term review of its digital strategy, the EC said it would prepare an initiative by the end of the year to deal with complaints from European companies including Spotify and Deezer that US tech giants such as Apple and Google are abusing their position as gateways to customers to promote their own services or impose unfair terms and conditions.
The initial findings of a probe launched last year showed platforms were delisting products or services from their search engines and app stores without due notice, restricting access to data and failing to make search result rankings transparent enough, said the EC. The aim is to establish fair practice criteria, measures to improve transparency and a system to help to resolve disputes.
However, the report said EDiMA, which represents leading online platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook, expressed disappointment and astonishment at the news. "Considering online platforms ‘key gatekeepers’ deviates greatly from the progressive thoughts put forward by the Commission in its platform communication in 2016," said EDiMA in a statement.
