The EU digital single market and the platform economy

Since 2010, the EU policy concerning the Digital Agenda and the Digital Single Market Strategy aimed to advance EU growth with concrete actions, in order to "unleash the potential of e-commerce". Among the major achievements of the Digital Single Market Strategy is the Regulation on Online Intermediaries, i.e. Platform Operators (e.g. Amazon, eBay, Booking.com, Google Shopping) to be applied in July 2020. The chapter explains the forms and the contribution of the platform economy to EU growth. It then focuses on Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services, regulating the contract between the business user (supplier, usually an SME) and the online intermediary, in order to ensure fair terms and to prevent unfair practices. The contribution analyses the main rules of the contract, explains the method of business users’ ranking and the effectiveness of the redress system, including mediation, between the platform operator and the business user. Since the case for the benefits of the platform economy is still controversial, the contribution assesses whether the EU’s attempt to control the immense power of the colossal platform operators, most of them outside the EU, has struck the right balance between growth through new business models and fair competition.