By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators are looking to establish a 40-man team and hire a technology expert to enforce tough new rules aimed at reining in the powers of Big Tech, an EU official said on Thursday.
The rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) sets out a list of do’s and don’ts for Alphabet unit Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and other gatekeepers which control access to their sites and the data there.
Reuters exclusively reported in July that the European Commission was considering creating a new directorate to allay concerns that it may struggle to get deep-pocketed and well-advised tech companies to comply with the new rules.
A 12-man unit headed by antitrust veteran Thomas Kramler who is currently handling the Apple and Amazon antitrust investigations and a 9-person strong taskforce will move to the new directorate, the official said.
The EU competition enforcer aims to hire 19 more people for the directorate and a chief technology officer to focus on data, the official said.
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The new unit will need the green light from the college of commissioners from the 27 EU countries in the coming weeks before it can be set up.
Enforcement of the DMA will be done jointly with the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology which has also set up a new unit for the task.
The Commission has previously said some 80 enforcers would be needed.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Grant McCool)