On 6 May, the European Commission adopted the Digital Single Market strategy, one of the key political priorities of Jean-Claude Juncker´s Commission. Lengthy discussions with many stakeholders accompanied by numerous leaks meant that the strategy text came as no surprise to the Brussels people. No real surprises happened to the specificities of the strategy. The Commission will continue in 3 different directions: 1) better access for consumers and businesses to cross-border digital services, 2) creating conditions and a level playing field for digital networks and innovative services and 3) maximizing growth potential of the digital economy. Together, there are 16 specific actions to be taken. The Commission set a deadline of the end of next year to present solutions for all of them.
The most interesting issues of the strategy are copyright reform and geo-blocking, spectrum allocation harmonization and role of the online platforms. Together with the publication of the strategy, the EC informed that it starts a big antitrust probe into digital service providers (similar to the ongoing one against Google).