Datenschutzrechtsverstöße als kartellrechtlicher Konditionenmissbrauch

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Barth
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Antitrust Law ◽  
Legal Question ◽  
Market Dominance ◽  
Data Protection Law

The German Federal Cartel Office´s decision stating that Facebook violated antitrust law by breaching the Data Protection Law is highly controversial. Is it possible to ground an abuse of market dominance on Data Protection Law violations? The author examines the formal, substantive and doctrinal issues of this legal question. By determining the scope and system of antitrust law, she establishes a number of criteria for deciding whether non-Antitrust Law breaches may justify an abuse of market power by use of unreasonable contractual terms. The monograph also addresses and evaluates the competence-related problems deriving from two different authorities examining the same Data Protection Law violations. The author concludes that non-antitrust law breaches may constitute an abuse of market power under circumstances present in the case of Data Protection Law, but that cartel authorities in Europe lack the competence to determine a breach of the GDPR themselves.

Datenbasierte Marktmacht in der europäischen Fusionskontrolle

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Heim
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Market Power ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Antitrust Law ◽  
Competitive Effects ◽  
The Core ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
Access To Data

Data is the core of Internet-based business models. Ever since Facebook took over WhatsApp, European antitrust law has been faced with the question of how to deal with mergers, especially those involving the well-known Internet giants ("FANG"). Under what circumstances can market power be based as a prohibition criterion on the possession of and access to data? What competitive effects of data-based market power are to be feared in horizontal, vertical and conglomerate mergers? How can any commitments remedy this form of market power? The work takes into account technical developments such as artificial intelligence as well as data protection aspects.

Exploitative abuses in digital markets: between competition law and data protection law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Caroline Buiten
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Data Protection Law ◽  
Collection Practices ◽  
Abuse Of Dominance

Abstract Online platforms increasingly offer consumers services ‘for free’, in exchange for collecting consumers’ personal data. This business model is highly successful, leading some online platforms to gain substantial market power. This market power can cause consumer harm—not through higher prices, but in the form of privacy harm. This article considers what role competition law and data protection law can play in mitigating this harm to privacy. The article considers how we can conceptualize exploitative abuse of dominance cases in zero-price markets. The article calls into question if data protection laws should play a role in antitrust abuse assessments, against the background of the Bundeskartellamt antitrust investigation into Facebook’s data collection practices. The article argues that, even in digital markets that unequivocally link market power with data privacy concerns, competition law and data protection law have complementary but distinct roles to play.

Data Processing as an Abuse of Market Power in Multi-Sided Markets. The More Competition-Oriented Approach in the German Federal Supreme Court’s Interim Decision KVR 69/19 – Facebook

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark-Oliver Mackenrodt
Keyword(s):  
Data Processing ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Market Power ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Competition Authority ◽  
Data Protection Law ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Federal Supreme

Abstract The relationship between competition law and data protection law has been a highly controversial issue following the German Competition Authority’s (Bundeskartellamt, hereinafter ‘Competition Authority’) decision with regard to Facebook’s data processing policy. The Competition Authority’s theory of harm was centered around an exploitative abuse of market power through the imposition of a data processing policy which is in conflict with the data protection rules. In the interim court proceedings, the OLG Düsseldorf criticized the Competition Authority’s decision. The German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter ‘Federal Supreme Court’) upheld the Competition Authority’s decision. However, the Federal Supreme Court did not derive the exploitative abuse primarily from a mere violation of data protection law. Instead, the Court referred to the users’ lack of freedom of choice. The Court developed a modified theory of harm by identifying elements of an exploitative abuse but also of an exclusionary abuse. The Court’s line of argument is more competition-oriented and accounts for the particular economic features of multi-sided markets. In this line of reasoning, an actual violation of the data protection rules is not a necessary prerequisite for finding a violation of competition law.

scholarly journals Towards Smarter Regulation in the Areas of Competition, Data Protection and Consumer Law: Why Greater Power Should Come with Greater Responsibility

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Inge GRAEF ◽  
Sean VAN BERLO
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
Dominant Firms ◽  
Positive Duties ◽  
Data Protection Law ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
Special Responsibility ◽  
Scope Of Protection ◽  
Existing Data

Based on a mix of conceptual insights and findings from cases, this paper discusses three ways in which the effectiveness of regulation in the areas of competition, data and consumer protection can be improved by tailoring substantive protections and enforcement mechanisms to the extent of market power held by firms. First, it is analysed how market power can be integrated into the substantive scope of protection of data protection and consumer law, drawing inspiration from competition law’s special responsibility for dominant firms. Second, it is illustrated how more asymmetric and smarter enforcement of existing data protection rules against firms possessing market power can strengthen the protection of data subjects and stimulate competition based on lessons from priority-setting and cooperation by consumer authorities. Third, it is explored how competition law’s special responsibility for dominant firms can be further strengthened in analogy with the principle of accountability in data protection law. Similarly, it is discussed how positive duties to ensure fair outcomes for consumers are developed in consumer law. The analysis offers lessons for improving the ability of the three regimes to protect consumers by imposing greater responsibility on firms with greater market power and thus posing greater risks for consumer harm.

Importance of Personal Data Protection Law for Commercial Air Transport

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
Dawid Zadura
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Air Transport ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Aviation Industry ◽  
Personal Data Protection ◽  
It Systems ◽  
Data Protection Law ◽  
The Law

Abstract In the review below the author presents a general overview of the selected contemporary legal issues related to the present growth of the aviation industry and the development of aviation technologies. The review is focused on the questions at the intersection of aviation law and personal data protection law. Massive processing of passenger data (Passenger Name Record, PNR) in IT systems is a daily activity for the contemporary aviation industry. Simultaneously, since the mid- 1990s we can observe the rapid growth of personal data protection law as a very new branch of the law. The importance of this new branch of the law for the aviation industry is however still questionable and unclear. This article includes the summary of the author’s own research conducted between 2011 and 2017, in particular his audits in LOT Polish Airlines (June 2011-April 2013) and Lublin Airport (July - September 2013) and the author’s analyses of public information shared by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA), Association of European Airlines (AEA), Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) and (GIODO). The purpose of the author’s research was to determine the applicability of the implementation of technical and organizational measures established by personal data protection law in aviation industry entities.

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