EU regulators mull over restrictions on market power of ecommerce and tech companies

The European Commission will propose rules for the technology industry with implications for everyone from room-sharing website Airbnb to ecommerce and search companies like Amazon and Google, bloomerg reports.

In particular, the EU’s executive arm will examine whether extra regulation is needed to curb Web companies’ market power, the source cites.The language echoes a separate four-year-old EU probe into Google’s power over the web, which is looking at allegations that the company favors its own services and paid ads over rivals. While the rise of the “sharing economy,” which includes companies like Uber and Airbnb, could promote growth and jobs in some industries, it may also raise “new regulatory questions.

The commission intends to start an assessment of these companies’ practices by the end of 2015, looking into how transparent companies are about how they store and use data and display search results, according to the document. The investigation will also look at how easy it is for customers to move between services. Amazon said in an e-mailed statement that it agrees with “the vision of Europe as a single market” and looks forward to working with the commission.

Google has come under increasing pressure in Europe. The EU’s patience with the world’s biggest search engine finally ran out in April, 2015 when the EU accused the company of abusing its dominant position in the internet shopping market. Officials also started a new investigation into its Android mobile-phone software.

Aside from its antitrust woes, Google is haggling with EU regulators over the scope of an EU court ruling that said citizens have a “right to be forgotten” and can seek deletion of links to outdated online information. Other US technology companies, such as social-network giant Facebook, would also be targeted by a separate overhaul of Europe’s data protection rules under discussion by lawmakers. The measures could allow regulators to levy fines of as much as EUR 100 million for privacy violations.

The EU proposals are part of the so-called digital single market package, intended to harmonise rules governing the web and the infrastructure it relies on, and help the 28 countries that make up the EU work more like a single unit. The commission estimates that they could create 3.8 million jobs and generate an additional EUR 415 billion to European gross domestic product, the source cites.

The Brussels-based commission will also look at rules that reduce the differences between national copyright laws, making it easier for e-books, movies and TV shows to travel across countries. Less than 4% of video-on-demand is available across borders, according to the document. By the end of 2015, the commission said it will propose legislation to make digital content portable across Europe and give customers access outside of their countries. That would make it easier for a user to download a movie in the UK and watch it in Spain, for example. The EU will also change the way it pursues copyright infringement, “focusing on commercial-scale infringements” and the application of copyright laws across borders.

The proposals will also tackle obstacles to cross-border sales. Tariffs on packages that traverse country lines can be two to five times higher than domestic deliveries, which is hurting companies that want to sell their products online. The commission plans to take steps to bring down high prices of small shipments and increase regulatory powers over deliveries. It’s meant to encourage Europe’s online shoppers, who are sometimes hit with surprise delivery fees when they buy from a shop in a neighboring country, and businesses that want to sell online, but have been held back by the costs.

In 2016, the commission will also propose rules to end the practice of “geo-blocking,” in which companies make some products unavailable to other European countries or change prices based on the customers’ location. The proposal matches similar efforts elsewhere in the EU as regulators look for ways to encourage growth by making businesses work across national boundaries.

U.S. studios like Time Warners Warner Brothers and 21st Century Fox are being examined by the EU over TV licensing deals that limit who can access content. Online services such as Netflix must usually get separate licenses for music and films for every country in which they operate. The EU will also suggest ways that make it easier for carriers such as Vodafone Group Plc and Orange SA to provide internet access to more of the population. The plans will focus on making rules around spectrum, the airwave licenses that carriers bid on to carry signals, more uniform, according to the draft document.

The telecommunications rules will also look at creating a “level playing field” between traditional phone companies and over-the-top services, such as Microsoft Corp.’s Skype and Facebook, which offer similar services like messaging and calls, and aren’t subject to the same regulations.