Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Commission has initiated market investigations into cloud computing services offered by Amazon and Microsoft under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This regulation seeks to reduce the dominance of Big Tech companies and promote fair competition for smaller competitors.
It announced the opening of two probes to determine whether Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers for their cloud services.
Additionally, a third investigation was launched to evaluate whether the DMA can effectively address anticompetitive practices in the cloud computing sector.
Why is the EU investigating major cloud providers now?
According to the EU Commission, recent studies of cloud markets show that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services hold strong positions among businesses and consumers. The Commission will evaluate whether certain aspects of the cloud sector may further strengthen the positions of Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
As for the market investigation into the DMA’s application to cloud markets, the Commission is collecting information from key market players. This will help them evaluate if the current obligations under the DMA effectively tackle practices that restrict competition or are unfair in the cloud sector.
How could DMA rules reshape competition in cloud markets?
The investigation will look into issues like obstacles to interoperability between cloud computing services, restricted or conditional access for business users to data, tying and bundling services, and possibly unbalanced contractual terms.
As reported, if the EU Commission’s investigation determines that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services serve as key gateways under the DMA, these cloud computing services will be included in the list of platform services where Amazon and Microsoft are already recognised as gatekeepers.
When was the last time the EU launched an investigation into Amazon and Microsoft regarding cloud computing?
Also in 2021, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) launched two investigations into how EU institutions use cloud services from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft under “Cloud II contracts.”
These investigations aimed to ensure compliance with the “Schrems II” judgment. This ruling raised concerns about the legality of transferring EU personal data to non-EU countries, especially the U.S., because of possible surveillance by U.S. authorities.
