The EU’s executive branch announced the launch of three probes on Nov. 18, two of which will examine whether Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers under the DMA, even though the companies do not currently meet the law’s quantitative thresholds for size, user numbers, or market dominance.
Even when companies do not meet the DMA’s quantitative thresholds, EU regulators may still designate them as gatekeepers if they control an essential gateway.
A third probe will assess whether the DMA’s existing framework is sufficient to address what the EC described as anticompetitive practices in Europe’s cloud sector.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Nov. 23, a European Commission spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
In announcing the probes, the EC stated that cloud computing “must be provided in a fair, open and competitive environment” to ensure innovation and Europe’s “strategic autonomy.”
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the investigations will examine “whether the DMA’s existing rules need to be updated so Europe can keep pace with fast-evolving practices in the cloud sector.”
Monitoring the Gatekeepers
AWS stated that it believed that the EC would ultimately conclude that stricter rules were unnecessary.“We’re confident that when the European Commission considers the facts, it will recognise what we all see—the cloud computing sector is extremely dynamic, with companies enjoying lots of choice, unprecedented innovation opportunity, and low costs, and that designating cloud providers as gatekeepers isn’t worth the risks of stifling invention or raising costs for European companies,” an AWS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
Responding to the announcement, a Microsoft spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company was “ready to contribute to the inquiry.”
“The cloud sector in Europe is innovative, highly competitive and an accelerator for growth across the economy,” the spokesperson said.
If the EC ultimately finds that AWS and Azure constitute an “important gateway” between businesses and customers, the services could be added to the list of core platform services for which both companies are already designated as gatekeepers.
The EC stated that it aims to conclude its investigations within 12 months. If Amazon or Microsoft is designated as a gatekeeper for cloud computing, it will have six months to comply with DMA rules.
The third and broader investigation into whether the DMA adequately governs the cloud market is expected to conclude within 18 months and may result in formal updates to the law.
