Market Failures in Business-to-Business (B2B) Data Exchanges and the Ways to Solve Them Through Regulation and Competition Remedies: A European Lege Lata and Lege Ferenda Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24822/rjduandes.0702.2Keywords:
Data, Market failures, Data Act, Digital Markets Act, gatekeepers, portability, business to business, B2B, data sharing, data poolsAbstract
Access to data is critical for the development of products and services that are competitive in the digital market. However, the generation and collection of data are subject to dynamics that lead to the accumulation of data in the hands of a few companies that monopolize it. Despite the fact that data can potentially be shared and exchanged among companies, significant market failures are observed that hinder the development of an efficient business-to-business data market. This results in suboptimal use of data and a significant portion of the social utility that can be derived from them being wasted. Companies’ data hoarding behaviors, especially when they act as gatekeepers, lead to underutilization of data to the detriment of market competition and innovation. By means of its Data Strategy, the European Union seeks to address these market failures through two avenues. On the one hand, by regulating the digital sector, specifically by establishing rules regarding data exchange. This imposes obligations and portability rights, promotes exchanges, and encourages the creation of common data spaces and data pools. Similarly, access gatekeepers are subject to a set of obligations and prohibitions aimed at opening the market and preventing the consolidation of uncontestable positions. Additionally, competition authorities can impose remedies in the cases they investigate for antitrust infringements, with the aim to promote an open data market.
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