On 23 January 2025, TEGOS (formerly TGS Baltic) Competition Law Group hosted a key event on digital market regulation in the Baltic States, gathering top legal and regulatory experts to discuss upcoming policy changes and their impact on businesses.
The event featured distinguished speakers, including former US DOJ Antitrust Division expert Mark Niefer, representatives from the Lithuanian and Latvian Competition Councils, as well as TGS Baltic’s competition law specialists from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
During the event, key topics related to digital market regulation were analysed, including the unique aspects of digital markets that make regulatory intervention necessary and an overview of the current regulatory landscape in the EU. Experts also discussed the main risks businesses face due to increasing regulatory requirements in the digital sector and other related topics.
Main takeaways of the event:
- Digital platforms have certain unique qualities which pose risks to competition and fairness. Consequently, policymakers in different countries tend to introduce regulatory measures to address these issues.
- The EU has been a pioneer in regulating digital platforms, with such initiatives as the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, the Platform-to-Business Regulation, and others, in addition to traditional competition law.
- Currently, in the context of the OECD review, Lithuania and Latvia are considering whether new national regulations for digital platforms are necessary.
- However, as the discussion has shown, there are significant risks that overregulation or fragmented regulation could deter tech companies from entering the EU or Baltic markets, depriving consumers of a wider choice of digital services.
