Interoperability between competition law and the proposed Digital Markets Act

A more regulatory approach to interoperability in the digital sector is long overdue while interoperability theories of harm in abuse cases have been extremely rare so far. In May 2021, the Italian Competition Authority fined Google over EUR 100 million for its refusal to integrate an electric recharging app into Android Auto and ordered the undertaking to make available tools for the programming of apps that are interoperable with Android Auto. It is interesting to ask whether the legal and economic reasonings put forth in the Android Auto decision will likely make it more agile for competition authorities to assess interoperability cases under Art. 102 TFEU going forward. Moreover, as the proposed EU Digital Markets Act contains an interoperability obligation for designated gatekeepers, the relationship between ex-post competition law enforcement and the looming EU ex-ante approach will also be relevant.