G7: Issued G7 compendium of approaches to improving competition in digital markets (2022)

On 12 October 2022, the German competition authority, as part of the G7's German Presidency and the Digital Competition Enforcers and Policy Makers Summit, published a Compendium of approaches to improving competition in digital markets. This is the second edition, with the first being released by the UK Competition and Market Authority on 29 November 2021. The Competition authorities of Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in the Compendium's creation. The Compendium highlights that the similarity in approaches across jurisdictions remains high. Examples include conducting investigations into mergers and acquisitions and inquiries into certain market practices. In particular, the Compendium notes that one of the main concerns to arise this year is regulating the use of algorithms in a way that is most beneficial and least harmful to the individual. Furthermore, it emphasised the similarity of the approaches in addressing data breaches, mergers, information exchange, and price fixing. The Compendium lists the jurisdictions that proposed and adopted legislation to increase the Competition authority's powers and establish ex-ante regulatory regimes. Finally, the Compendium lists the common challenges in enforcement that authorities face due to "weaker competition in digital markets" and stresses the need for interoperable systems.