Competition Policy in Transition: Exploring Data Portability’s Roles

The paper explores data portability from an EU competition policy perspective as set against an institutional and conceptual background swept by gales of transformation. The paper points out that data portability can play three distinct roles, namely it can allow for switching, enable data fluidity and thereby promote competition and innovation, as well as enhance consumer empowerment in the digital economy overall. These different roles are analysed against the background of (1) traditional competition law, (2) a mar- ket investigation regime, and (3) an ex-ante regulatory framework targeting large online platforms with gatekeeping power.