24 Amendments of Paul TANG related to 2021/2185(INI)
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 e (new)
Citation 8 e (new)
- having regard to the “Online platforms and digital advertising” Market Study1e of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom, __________________ 1eCompetition and Markets Authority (CMA), "Online platforms and digital advertising market study", Market Study Final Report, 1 July 2020, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/m edia/5fa557668fa8f5788db46efc/Final_re port_Digital_ALT_TEXT.pdf
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 f (new)
Citation 8 f (new)
- having regard to the Digital Advertising Services Inquiry Report1f of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), __________________ 1fAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), "Digital advertising services inquiry", Final report, August 2021, https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Digit al%20advertising%20services%20inquiry %20-%20final%20report.pdf
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas competitive advantages may be established and unfair competitive practices may be employed, as a result of typically legitimate and highly sophisticated tax avoidance schemes, involving several jurisdictions;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas such tax schemes may be effective through EU based subsidiaries of non – EU legal entities, thus creating a competitive disadvantage of European entities within the single market;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas significant tax differences between Member States regarding digital service providers and digital market participants may result in creating unfair competitive advantages;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Reaffirms the need for an in-depth review and effective implementation of existing competition instruments, and the adoption of new ones based on digital technologies fit for investigations in digital markets;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Notes that national tax policies and measures can impact tax collection of other Member States and can have a distortive effect on both fair competition and investments in the single market; recalls that some Member States’ schemes taxing profits made in an international context at a lower rate than the national nominal rate or artificially lowering marginal rates risk putting SMEs at a competitive disadvantage;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Welcomes the adoption of the public country-by-country reporting (pCBCR) proposal in November 2021 and urges Member States to transpose the obligations into their national laws as soon as possible; looks forward to the Commission legislative proposal to extend corporate tax transparency to all countries where an undertaking or group of undertakings operates in, based on the methodology for calculating effective tax rates established under Pillar 2 of the OECD negotiations; repeats its call for a minimum effective corporate tax rate; welcomes the Commission’s “Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation”(BEFIT) proposal and calls on Member States to swiftly agree on an ambitious proposal for a European corporate tax rulebook;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the launch of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which will seek to deepen economic and transatlantic relations based on common values; notes with appreciation that the transformation of the EU’s rules vis-à-vis digital platform companies is mirrored by comparable legislative initiatives and individual investigations in the US; , such as the 'Ban Surveillance Advertising Bill'1a and the investigations of the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission into Google's Ad-Tech business1b; __________________ 1a https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press /booker-announces-introduction-of-bill- to-ban-surveillance-advertising 1b https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ 2021-09-01/u-s-doj-readying-google- antitrust-lawsuit-over-ad-tech-business
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the regulatory and enforcement tasks are delegated within its services swiftly and in a transparent manner in order to eliminate inefficiencies and administrative burdens; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to dedicate sufficient and proper resources to implementing the Digital Markets Act; notes with concern the limited number of technology specialists and the departure of top officials within DG COMP1aa; points hence to the number of 840 FTEs and number of technology specialists allocated to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)1a and the lack of competition enforcement in Europe compared to other continents as observed in the OECD Competition Trends Report 20211b; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to dedicate sufficient and proper resources to implementing the Digital Markets Act; __________________ 1aCMA, Annual Report and Accounts 2020 to 2021 CMA, 15 July 2021, https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio ns/cma-annual-report-and-accounts- 2020-to-2021, p. 70. 1aaPolitico, "EU watchdog puts spotlight on exodus of competition officials", 19 October 2021, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu- watchdog-puts-spotlight-on-exodus- revolving-door-competition-officials/. 1b OECD, "OECD Competition Trends 2021 Highlights", https://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/oec d-competition-trends-2021-highlights.pdf, p. 9.
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Reiterates that limited access to relevant data may hinder participants’ entry into the market, and inhibit the overall rate of expansion and innovation in a given market; notes with concern that gatekeepers that develop a data advantage over rivals can achieve critical economies of scale therefore contributing to the further tilting of competitive balances in digital markets;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Stresses that digital transformation is exacerbating the need for adaptation of competition policy and adjustments to the enforcement thereof; reminds that the characteristics of digital markets such as higher returns to scale and strong network externalities, particularly in the platform economy, enable incumbent market participants to establish advantageous competitive positions and create lock-in effect for categories of users; reminds that participants in the digital market can collect, store, process, combine, and accumulate vast amounts of data, and that differential access thereto may enable possible barriers to market entry and distortions to competition; highlights that data concentrations are increasingly relevant and appropriate identifiers for relevant markets and potential distortions to competition;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13c. Takes note of the Commission’s opening of antitrust investigations into possible anticompetitive conducts in the online advertising technology sector; reminds that the investigations are aimed at assessing whether EU competition rules have been violated by favouring own online display advertising technology services in the ad tech supply chain, and for using advertising data gathered from advertisers to compete with them in the classified ads market; takes note of the CMA’s 2020 market study into online platforms and digital advertising, and the ACCC’s 2021 report of its inquiry into the markets for the supply of ad tech services and ad agency services; urges the Commission to build on the momentum and early indications of the recent antitrust investigations into possible anticompetitive conduct in the online advertising technology sector, and commence a market study of the sector in the EU to investigate issues that have an impact on competition, the functioning of the market, and consumer-specific issues such as choice, quality, safety, privacy, and information, as well as consumer understanding, behaviour and decision making;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Recalls the Council's call on the Commission to consider how to tackle distortive effects resulting from a participation of bidders using tax havens outside the EU for tax avoidance purposes, giving a potential unfair advantage to multinational companies participating in such activities3a; recalls the European Parliament’s call on the Commission to consider the development of certain conditions to be applied to corporations and aggressive tax planning enablers and facilitators in public procurement procedures3b; urges the Commission to evaluate whether current legal standards allow the exclusion of undertakings or groups of undertakings using tax havens to reduce their tax bill based on the possible exclusion of bidders based on their integrity; invites the Commission to provide legal clarity in the form of guidelines to its Public Procurement Framework in this regard; calls on national governments to integrate this in their national frameworks; __________________ 3aCouncil Conclusions: Public Investment through Public Procurement: Sustainable Recovery and Reboosting of a Resilient EU Economy (13352/20), 25 November 2020, General Secretariat of the Council, para. 20, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/4 6905/st13352-en20.pdf 3b P9_TA(2021)0022, para. 23 - 26.
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Regrets that the concentration in the market for credit rating agencies continues to deepen with S&P Global's market share having risen from 40% to 52% and the three largest agencies holding over 90% of the market1a; concludes that existing measures to enhance competition in this market are insufficient; calls for the creation of a European public credit rating agency as an impartial and trusted alternative to existing agencies; __________________ 1aEuropean Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), "Report on CRA Market Share Calculation", 22 December 2021, https://www.esma.europa.eu/document/re port-cra-market-share-calculation-2021.
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Regrets the quasi monopoly of the ‘Big Four’ accountancy companies auditing the largest listed companies and upholds that lessons should be learned from recent scandals including the Wirecard scandal; calls on the Commission to overhaul of the EU audit regulatory framework to strengthen the supervision regime, address loopholes and Member State exceptions and introduce rules to avoid conflicts of interests by introducing mandatory audit rotation and ring-fencing auditing from consulting services; urges the Commission to take measures to avoid closeness between public institutions and audit firms, including in its own operations, and recalls, in this light, that according to the Court of Auditors the Commission spent more than €462 million on contracts with the ‘Big Four’ between 2016 ;and 20191a; __________________ 1a Euractiv, EU Court of Auditors looking into Commissions contracts with consultants, 19 March 2021, https://www.euractiv.com/section/econom y-jobs/news/eu-court-of-auditors-looking- into-commissions-contracts-with- consultants.
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 c (new)
Paragraph 19 c (new)
19c. Welcomes recent comments of Vice-President Vestager on regulating the 'Metaverse'1a; Is of the opinion the Metaverse is subject to ordinary European legislative frameworks, such as its Competition Framework, GDPR, ePrivacy Directive, DSA and DMA; Deplores earlier killer acquisitions taken place falling outside of the scope of the EU Merger Regulation; Calls, in this regard, on the Commission to actively monitor if companies and entities working on and in the Metaverse are abiding by the earlier mentioned legislative frameworks; __________________ 1aPolitico, "Vestager: Metaverse poses new competition challenges", 18 January 2021, https://www.politico.eu/article/metaverse- new-competition-challenges-margrethe- vestager/.
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Urges the Commission to accelerate its commitment to reviewing its notice on the definition of relevantthe notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law (“Notice”); recalls that the Notice is an important tool the Commission uses in its enforcement of those rules to identify the boundaries of competition between companies; emphasises that the Notice needs to be updated to reflect technological change, the evolving market characteristics of the digital market ecosystem, multi-sided markets, the importance of data, and zero-price markets;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Is of the opinion that the accelerating speed of market entry and exit, and that of innovation, in combination with shorter innovation cycles, requires more dynamic analyses as regards market definition in digital markets; recalls that in dynamic market contexts, high market shares may not necessarily be indicative of market power as demonstrated by Case T-79/125a, and Commission decision in Case M.62815b; highlights that in digital markets where boundaries are becoming increasingly more blurred, ecosystem-specific aftermarkets may need to be defined where market players’ lock-in strategies are successful and consumers find it difficult to leave the ecosystem; __________________ 5aCase T-79/12, ECLI:EU:T:2013:635, para. 69. 5bCommission decision of 7 October 2011 in Case M.6281 Microsoft/Skype para. 78.
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Emphasises that price is not an all-encompassing parameter for market definition in all cases in the digital economy; highlights that in zero-price markets, consumers access products and services in exchange for their data and are, in return, exposed to profiling and advertising where functionalities such as quality, privacy, data processing, and attention are more fitting parameters; reminds that the Small but Significant Non-transitory Increase in Price (SSNIP) is not the only method available to the Commission when defining the relevant product market; calls on the Commission to consider the Small but Significant Non- transitory Decrease in Quality (SSNDQ) method employed in Case AT.400995c as an alternative tool, where appropriate, for market definition in the review of the Notice; __________________ 5c Commission decision of 18 July 2018 in Case AT.40099, para. 263 - 267
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Emphasises that technological means and the large amounts of personal data relevant for online personalisation and price discrimination are extensive, developing rapidly, and difficult to detect; recalls that online marketplaces, platforms, and social media may use data analytics and profiling techniques to improve the efficiency of advertising up to the level of individual consumers, personalise the ranking of the offers, or vary prices to reflect the cost of serving individual customers; reiterates that personalised pricing practices including but not limited to ranking and nudging may present a challenge for consumers and prevent them from getting the best deal on the market; calls on the Commission to further investigate the impact of personalised pricing and integrate this practice in the product dimension of the evidence relied on to define relevant markets in the review of the Notice;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Acknowledges the Commission guidance on certain aspects of Article 22 of the Merger Regulation6 ; eExpresses concern, however, that this initiative may not be sufficient to adapt the regulation to the needs of modern business models, such as on killer acquisitions; __________________Recalls the remarks of Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt expressing Google is buying one company a week1a; Calls on the Commission to introduce in its review of the competition framework the possibility of a reversed burden of proof on businesses before businesses (pre-)notify potential concentrations; __________________ 1aTechcrunch, "Eric Schmidt: Google is buying one company a week", 7 December 2011, https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/07/eric- schmidt-google-is-buying-one-company- a-week/. 6 OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Calls on the Commission to review its merger and acquisition rules when it comes to assessing personal data; calls, in particular, on the Commission to fully consider and assess personal data assets as all other traditional physical assets when it decides on digital mergers and acquisitions; urges the European Commission to take a broader view when evaluating digital mergers and assess the impact of data consolidation; notes that the acquisition of targets with specific data resources can bring about a concentration in control over valuable and non-replicable data resources and result in better data access for the merging parties than for their competitors; stresses that data consolidation via mergers may strengthen a dominant position or allow the acquiring entity to leverage market power, and sometimes raise foreclosure concerns;