The project ‘Shaping Competition in the Digital Age’ (SCiDA), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), examines the new regulations introduced in Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union to regulate the power of digital gatekeepers (e.g. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft) and investigates how they work in practice.
The research project focuses on the Digital Markets Act (EU), the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (UK) and Section 19a of the German Act against Restraints of Competition. These are different regulatory responses to the disruptive changes of the platform economy. They pursue similar normative goals, but rely on different approaches. SCiDA analyses the regulatory initiatives and documents how the new regulations work in practice in the various legal systems. In particular, it will analyse which of their elements prove to be particularly effective in protecting competition in the digital age. In addition, the underlying enforcement principles and strategies of the three regulations will be compared and suggestions developed as to how digital regulation can be improved. In this way, the legal systems can benefit from each other’s experiences.
The project is an international research collaboration between Heinrich Heine University and the University of Newcastle. DIID member Prof Dr Rupprecht Podszun (Law) is leading the project in collaboration with Prof Dr Oles Andriychuk from the University of Newcastle. The project team also includes Dr Jasper van den Boom and Sarah Hinck, both members of Prof Dr Rupprecht Podszun’s department. The project is funded by the DFG in Germany and the AHRC in the UK for three years.
Further information about the project can be found on the official project website.
Ansprechpartner
Prof. Dr. Rupprecht Podszun
Law
Prof. Dr. Rupprecht Podszun holds the Chair of Civil Law, German and European Competition Law at the Faculty of Law of the HHU-Düsseldorf. He is Director of the Institute for Antitrust Law and substitute member of the Commission for the Assessment of Concentration in the Media Sector. He is vice chairman of the non-partisan Theodor Heuss Foundation, which promotes democracy and civil rights.
His research focuses primarily on issues of economic governance in light of the transformation of the economy through digitalization and sustainability goals. One focus is on addressing the role of digital platforms.