Data Protection Considerations in EU Competition Law - A Natural Evolution or Disruptive Development?
(2020) LAGM01 20201Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- It goes without saying that the world that we live in is becoming increasingly digitised. People communicate on Facebook, order products on Amazon, and use Google Search to find everything the Internet has to offer. A common denominator of these services is that they are all offered for free. Instead of requiring payment, the business model of such undertakings is to maximise data collection on its users, establish their preferences, and sell advertisement space to other undertakings that benefit from targeted advertising. Data has consequently become an essential component of thriving in the digital era. While the collection of (personal) data is mostly a concern related to data protection laws, many of the digital markets are dominated... (More)
- It goes without saying that the world that we live in is becoming increasingly digitised. People communicate on Facebook, order products on Amazon, and use Google Search to find everything the Internet has to offer. A common denominator of these services is that they are all offered for free. Instead of requiring payment, the business model of such undertakings is to maximise data collection on its users, establish their preferences, and sell advertisement space to other undertakings that benefit from targeted advertising. Data has consequently become an essential component of thriving in the digital era. While the collection of (personal) data is mostly a concern related to data protection laws, many of the digital markets are dominated by extremely large market players. Search engines have Google, online retail has Amazon, consumer communication has Facebook; the list goes on. In turn, certain harmful behaviour conducted by large undertakings is precluded through the application of competition law. The commercialisation of data and personal data has led to the intersection between data protection law and competition law. As such, a question arises whether data protection considerations can be taken into account in competition law.
The thesis examines how, and in which ways, data protection considerations can form part of the competitive assessment in EU law. The thesis explains the roles of data and personal data in the digital era and how their processing can both lead to positive and negative effects vis-à-vis consumers. It continues to explore the commonalities and divergences between EU data protection law and EU competition law. Although being separate legal instruments, it is demonstrated that they share a lot of similarities. Having described the legal frameworks, the thesis analyses cases comprising the latest application of competition law treating data protection-related questions. While finding that institutions generally avoid directly applying data protection considerations in competition law, it is shown that some data protection-related concepts have been injected into the competitive assessment. As conclusion, the thesis acknowledges that data protection considerations can form part of the competitive assessment in EU law in different ways. However, it is noted that the interactions between EU data protection law and EU competition law are still largely unexplored. Guidance from the relevant EU institutions is therefore required to bring about much needed legal certainty. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Det kan konstateras utan vidare att den världen som vi lever i håller på att bli allt mer digitaliserad. Människor kommunicerar på Facebook, beställer varor på Amazon och använder sig av Google Search för att komma åt allting som Internetet har att erbjuda. En gemensam nämnare för dessa tjänster är att de erbjuds gratis. Affärsmodellen för dessa företag är istället att maximera upptagningen av data angående deras användare, etablera deras preferenser och sedan sälja reklamutrymme till andra företag som nyttjas av riktad marknadsföring. Data har på så sätt blivit en väsentlig del för att kunna frodas i den digitala eran. Medan insamlingen av personuppgifter huvudsakligen regleras av dataskyddslagar så är många av de digitala marknaderna... (More)
- Det kan konstateras utan vidare att den världen som vi lever i håller på att bli allt mer digitaliserad. Människor kommunicerar på Facebook, beställer varor på Amazon och använder sig av Google Search för att komma åt allting som Internetet har att erbjuda. En gemensam nämnare för dessa tjänster är att de erbjuds gratis. Affärsmodellen för dessa företag är istället att maximera upptagningen av data angående deras användare, etablera deras preferenser och sedan sälja reklamutrymme till andra företag som nyttjas av riktad marknadsföring. Data har på så sätt blivit en väsentlig del för att kunna frodas i den digitala eran. Medan insamlingen av personuppgifter huvudsakligen regleras av dataskyddslagar så är många av de digitala marknaderna dominerade av extremt stora marknadsaktörer. Sökmotorer har Google, online-återförsäljning har Amazon och konsumentkommunikation har Facebook; listan fortsätter. I sin tur förbjuds visst skadligt beteende av stora företag genom tillämpningen av konkurrensrätt. Kommersialiseringen av data och personuppgifter har lett till sammankopplingen av dataskyddslagstiftning och konkurrensrätt. En fråga som därmed uppkommer är huruvida dataskyddshänsynstaganden bör beaktas i konkurrensrättsliga bedömningar.
Den här avhandlingen utreder hur, och på vilka sätt, dataskyddshänsynstaganden kan utgöra en del i konkurrensrättsliga bedömningar i EU-rätten. Avhandlingen förklarar data och personuppgifters roll i den digital eran samt hur deras behandling kan medföra både positiva och negativa effekter gentemot konsumenter. Den fortsätter med att utforska likheterna och olikheterna mellan EU dataskyddslagstiftning och EU konkurrenslagstiftning. Även om det rör sig om två separata rättsliga instrument, påvisas det att de har mycket gemensamt. Efter att ha redogjort för de rättsliga ramverken analyserar avhandlingen rättsfall som utgör den senaste tillämpningen av konkurrensrätt och som berör dataskyddsrelaterade frågor. Generellt sett undviker institutionerna att direkt tillämpa dataskyddshänsynstaganden i konkurrensrättsliga sammanhang men samtidigt har vissa dataskyddsrelaterade koncept blivit infogade. Som slutsats finner avhandlingen att dataskyddshänsynstaganden kan utgöra en del av konkurrensrättsliga bedömningar i EU-rätten på flera olika sätt. Dock noteras det att interaktionerna mellan EU dataskyddslagstiftning och EU konkurrensrätt förblir tämligen outforskade. Därför krävs vägledning från de relevanta EU-institutionerna för att generera välbehövd rättsäkerhet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9015379
- author
- Alfredsson, Adam LU
- supervisor
-
- Julian Nowag LU
- organization
- course
- LAGM01 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Data, Personal data, Big data, Data Protection, Privacy, EU, Competition law, EU competition law, GDPR, Abuse of a dominant position, Article 102 TFEU, Bundeskartellamt, Facebook, WhatsApp, Digital era, Platforms, Networks
- language
- English
- id
- 9015379
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-15 14:01:57
- date last changed
- 2020-06-15 14:01:57
@misc{9015379,
abstract = {{It goes without saying that the world that we live in is becoming increasingly digitised. People communicate on Facebook, order products on Amazon, and use Google Search to find everything the Internet has to offer. A common denominator of these services is that they are all offered for free. Instead of requiring payment, the business model of such undertakings is to maximise data collection on its users, establish their preferences, and sell advertisement space to other undertakings that benefit from targeted advertising. Data has consequently become an essential component of thriving in the digital era. While the collection of (personal) data is mostly a concern related to data protection laws, many of the digital markets are dominated by extremely large market players. Search engines have Google, online retail has Amazon, consumer communication has Facebook; the list goes on. In turn, certain harmful behaviour conducted by large undertakings is precluded through the application of competition law. The commercialisation of data and personal data has led to the intersection between data protection law and competition law. As such, a question arises whether data protection considerations can be taken into account in competition law.
The thesis examines how, and in which ways, data protection considerations can form part of the competitive assessment in EU law. The thesis explains the roles of data and personal data in the digital era and how their processing can both lead to positive and negative effects vis-à-vis consumers. It continues to explore the commonalities and divergences between EU data protection law and EU competition law. Although being separate legal instruments, it is demonstrated that they share a lot of similarities. Having described the legal frameworks, the thesis analyses cases comprising the latest application of competition law treating data protection-related questions. While finding that institutions generally avoid directly applying data protection considerations in competition law, it is shown that some data protection-related concepts have been injected into the competitive assessment. As conclusion, the thesis acknowledges that data protection considerations can form part of the competitive assessment in EU law in different ways. However, it is noted that the interactions between EU data protection law and EU competition law are still largely unexplored. Guidance from the relevant EU institutions is therefore required to bring about much needed legal certainty.}},
author = {{Alfredsson, Adam}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Data Protection Considerations in EU Competition Law - A Natural Evolution or Disruptive Development?}},
year = {{2020}},
}