Resources for Gatekeepers and potential Gatekeepers

Please submit your Form GD and a PoA if needed, using EU SEND stating the relevant DMA case numbers in the subject. Please also send your Form GD by email to EC-DMAec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EC-DMA[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) and the relevant CPS mailing lists.

In case you have not received an email listing your DMA case numbers, please submit your Form GD via EU SEND stating “DMA Form GD” in the subject and send a copy to EC-DMAec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EC-DMA[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

When submitting your Form GD in EU SEND you will receive an upload notice. You will, in addition, receive an acknowledgement of receipt from the DMA Registry once your submission has been processed.

If you are unable to submit your Form GD via EU SEND, please send it to EC-DMAec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EC-DMA[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) and COMP-DMA-Registryec [dot] europa [dot] eu (COMP-DMA-Registry[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

The Commission may send you a request for information using eRFI, which is the Commission's electronic investigative platform.

In the context of the Commission’s enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”), the Commission may have to grant gatekeepers (i.e., the designated companies) access to information that it has obtained from third parties in the context of its DMA enforcement powers. This information encompasses any third-party submissions as well as minutes of meetings with third parties.

This process is called “access to file” and seeks to preserve the right to be heard of companies that are subject to the Commission’s investigations under the DMA. Access to file only takes place if the Commission opens an investigation and issues preliminary findings setting out its preliminary views in the course of the proceedings. Access to file may then be granted upon request and only to those companies that are addressees of the Commission’s preliminary findings (i.e., designated gatekeepers). Access to file is granted under strict conditions and subject to limitations as to the information which is made available to the gatekeeper as opposed to its external advisers (i.e., external legal counsel, economic or technical experts). It proceeds as follows:

• Conditional gatekeeper access: access to the redacted versions of third-party submissions and minutes of meetings is granted to the addressee of the preliminary findings (i.e., the gatekeeper) only if the Commission mentions these submissions in the preliminary findings as the basis for its preliminary views. If the redacted document is not mentioned in the preliminary findings, it will not be provided to the gatekeeper.
• External counsel access only: the Commission may grant access to the unredacted version of third-party submissions and minutes of meetings, irrespective of whether they are mentioned in the preliminary findings, to a limited number of the gatekeeper’s external advisers. This occurs where: (i) the Commission adopts preliminary findings; and (ii) the addressee of the preliminary findings (i.e., the gatekeeper) requests access to file to exercise its right to be heard. In that case, access to file is granted in a data room on Commission premises subject to strict rules set out in a Commission decision (e.g., no phones, no information leaves the room, etc) and under continuous supervision by Commission officials. Further, external advisers are subject to strict non-disclosure obligations under threat of fines. 

The Commission requests third parties to identify any information containing business secrets or other confidential information, and explain why it should be treated as such. The Commission makes this request at the time it collects the information from third parties. The Commission does this to ensure administrative efficiency in DMA proceedings, including to allow it to rely on third-party submissions and meeting minutes in its preliminary findings. Where documents or minutes contain confidential information and/or business secrets, the third party must draw up two versions: one for conditional gatekeeper access (redacted version) and another for external counsel access only (unredacted version).

Any personal data submitted must be processed in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council. That Regulation imposes extra protections for documents or minutes containing special categories of personal data, namely: i) “personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership”; or ii) “genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation” (“special categories of personal data”). Where a document contains such data, please file it in a separate submission identified as “SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL DATA”. Please highlight the special categories of personal data in the document and provide a motivation/indication as to the specific category in case this is not immediately obvious from the highlight.

The list of acquisitions, of which the Commission has been informed by gatekeepers pursuant to Article 14 DMA, will be published in a dedicated space on the Commission’s public DMA website.

The Commission, for each acquisition, will publish a non-confidential summary of the information submitted by the gatekeeper. As provided for in Section 1.2 of the Article 14 DMA template, this summary should contain basic information on the acquisition, including the identity of the undertakings concerned, their fields of activity and the nature and rationale of the transaction.