The EU Digital Markets Act reshapes how the largest digital platforms must deal with the businesses that use them. It regulates designated gatekeepers through binding, ex-ante obligations, without needing a finding of abuse in each case. For UK firms, the practical significance is usually not that they are gatekeepers, but that they are business users of gatekeepers: app stores, operating systems, marketplaces, search and cloud services. The Act gives those business users enforceable rights. We advise UK clients trading into the EU on how the Digital Markets Act affects their platform relationships, and on the divergence between the EU regime and the UK’s own.

The regulatory framework

The Digital Markets Act is Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, enforced by the European Commission. It applies to core platform services provided to business users or end users located in the EU, regardless of where the provider or the business user is established. A UK firm operating in EU markets therefore deals with Digital Markets Act-compliant versions of gatekeeper services, and can rely on the rights the Act creates.

Only firms the Commission designates as gatekeepers under Article 3 carry the obligations. Designation follows quantitative thresholds, including annual EEA turnover above EUR 7.5 billion or an average market capitalisation of at least EUR 75 billion, together with a core platform service that has at least 45 million monthly active end users and 10,000 yearly active business users in the EU. A designated gatekeeper must comply with the obligations in Articles 5 to 7. The Commission enforces with fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover, rising to 20% for repeat infringement, and can impose structural remedies for systematic non-compliance.

What rights does the Digital Markets Act give business users?

The obligations in Articles 5 and 6 translate into practical rights for the businesses that sell through gatekeeper platforms. A gatekeeper cannot stop a business user from steering its customers to offers or lower prices outside the platform. It cannot require the use of its own payment service as a condition of access to an app store, and must allow third-party software and competing app stores on its operating system. Business users have a right to access, in real time, the data they generate through their use of the platform. And under Article 7, gatekeepers running number-independent messaging services must open basic interoperability to competing services. For a UK e-commerce, telecoms or fintech client, these are enforceable entitlements in the EU rather than matters left to the platform’s discretion.

Feature	EU Digital Markets Act	UK digital markets regime (DMCC Act 2024)
Who is caught	Designated gatekeepers (Article 3 thresholds)	Firms designated with strategic market status
Obligation design	Fixed, per-se obligations (Articles 5 to 7)	Bespoke conduct requirements, tailored to firm and activity
Trigger	Quantitative thresholds; no abuse finding required	Substantial and entrenched market power plus turnover condition
Enforcer	European Commission	Competition and Markets Authority
Maximum fine	10% of global turnover, 20% for repeat breach	10% of global group turnover

How does the EU regime differ from the UK approach?

The Digital Markets Act does not extend to the United Kingdom. The UK regulates digital markets through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which gives the CMA a bespoke, investigation-led power to designate firms with strategic market status and impose tailored conduct requirements. The EU regime sets the same obligations on every gatekeeper; the UK regime designs each obligation for the specific firm and activity. A business operating across both markets must assess the two regimes separately, because designation, obligations and enforcement all differ. The two are converging on outcomes in some areas, such as data portability, but by different legal routes.

Why the Digital Markets Act matters for your business

If your business reaches EU customers through a gatekeeper platform, the Act changes your commercial position. Anti-steering rights let you promote better prices off-platform; data access rights give you information about your own customers that platforms once withheld; interoperability and app-distribution rules open routes to market that were previously closed. On the transactions side, designated gatekeepers must notify the Commission of acquisitions in the digital sector even below the ordinary merger thresholds, which matters when a gatekeeper is a counterparty or potential acquirer. Cloud services are the next front: the Commission has moved towards designating major cloud providers, which will be relevant to any client assessing vendor lock-in when negotiating cloud contracts. Knowing which rights you hold, and how to assert them, is the difference between accepting platform terms and shaping them.

How we work

We work with clients in three ways: as direct legal advisers on a specific question, as specialist co-counsel alongside a competition or corporate team, and as fractional general counsel on a retained basis. Rob Bratby currently holds four fractional General Counsel appointments, at The One Touch Switching Company, TelXL, Core Communication and the UK Payments Initiative, giving direct operator-side insight into platform dependency and gatekeeper relationships. We advise on UK regulation and coordinate with specialist EU counsel on questions of EU law. Where a matter involves personal data, we address it through our data protection practice.

Frequently asked questions about the EU Digital Markets Act

Does the Digital Markets Act apply to my UK business?

Not as an obligation, unless your business is designated as a gatekeeper, which is rare. But if you provide services to, or reach customers in, the EU through a gatekeeper platform, you benefit from the rights the Act gives business users. The Act applies to services provided to users in the EU regardless of where you are established.

Which firms are designated gatekeepers?

The European Commission designates gatekeepers under Article 3, using turnover and user thresholds, in respect of specific core platform services such as app stores, operating systems, search, social networking and online intermediation. The current list is maintained by the Commission and has been expanding, with cloud computing the next likely front.

Can a platform stop me telling customers about cheaper prices elsewhere?

Not if it is a designated gatekeeper. Article 5 prohibits gatekeepers from preventing business users from steering their customers to alternative offers and channels, including lower prices available outside the platform. This is one of the most practically useful rights the Act creates for online sellers and app developers.

How does this interact with the UK regime?

The Digital Markets Act governs the EU; the UK’s own regime under the DMCC Act 2024 governs the UK. They pursue similar goals through different mechanisms, so a business active in both markets has to assess each separately. We advise on the UK position and coordinate with EU counsel where EU law is engaged.

Also see

Explore our related Digital Regulation pages on SMS Designation and Conduct Requirements, Pro-Competition Interventions, Merger Control in Digital Markets and Competition Enforcement and Litigation, or return to the Digital Regulation hub. The regime intersects with our work in Telecoms Regulation, Payments Regulation and Data Protection. For commentary on current developments, see our Insights.