to conduct market investigations to: (i) designate companies as gatekeepers on qualitative grounds; (ii) update the obligations for gatekeepers when necessary; (iii) design remedies to tackle systematic infringements of the Digital Markets Act rules40. Under the DMA, the Commission has already designated digital platforms as ‘gatekeepers’ when they provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services41. Lastly, it is important to note also that article 12 of the CA provides for the prohibition of abuses of economic dependence, which is ascertained concerning one specific counterpart and not the market in general (unlike dominant positions). More precisely, concerns from one’s supplier or customer as a result of the fact that any “equivalent alternative” is not available, to the extent that such a practice affects the way the market or competition operate. And “an undertaking is deemed not to have an equivalent alternative when: a) The supply of the goods or service at issue, specifically at the point of distribution, is controlled by a restricted number of undertakings; and b) The undertaking cannot find identical conditions from other commercial partners within a reasonable time scale”42. Besides the same conducts as prohibited under abuse of dominance, the abuse of economic dependence applies also to “Any unjustified break, total or partial, in established commercial relations, bearing in mind previous commercial relations, recognized practices in that particular economic activity and the contractual conditions that have been set down”43. 1.3. Concentrations between undertakings and regulatory approval A “concentration” only covers operations where a change of control in the undertakings concerned occurs on a lasting basis, as it is intended to relate to operations which bring about a lasting change in the structure of the market44. There are two categories of concentrations: (i) those arising from a merger between previously independent undertakings and (ii) those arising 40 More information available at the Commission’s specific website https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/ index_en. 41 See the Commission’s press release of 6.09.2023 on the first designation of gatekeepers - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft – concerning 22 core platform services. See https://ec.europa.eu/commission/ presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_4328. 42 Article 12(3) CA. 43 Article 12(2) CA. 44 Paragraphs 11 and following of the Commission Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (“Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice”), published in OJ C 95, pages 1 and following, of 16.4.2008. See articles 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (“EU Merger Regulation”) published in OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1–22. 137 THE SWEET&SOUR TASTE OF TOURISM AND COMPETITION LAW INTERACTION
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