Introduction

• Author: Hocepied, Christian; Streel, Alexandre de
• Pages: 11-12

Contribution to Growth: European Digital Single Market

PE 638.395 11

1. INTRODUCTION

The Digital Market Strategy

On 6 May 2015, the European Commission launched its Digital Market Strategy for Europe,1

announcing ambitious legislative steps towards a connected digital single market. The Strategy was

built on three pillars:

•Better access for consumers and businesses to online goods and services across Europe – by

removing of key differences between the online and offline worlds to break down barriers to cross-

border online activity;

•Creating the right conditions for digital networks and services to flourish – by fostering high-

speed, secure and trustworthy infrastructures and content services, through the right regulatory

conditions for innovation, investment, fair competition and a level playing field; and

•Maximising the growth potential of our European Digital Economy – by promoting investment in

ICT infrastructures and technologies such as Cloud computing and Big Data, and research and

innovation to boost industrial competiveness as well as better public services, inclusiveness and

skills.

At the same time, the Commission stressed, that these actions must “go hand-in-hand with efforts to

boost digital skills and learning across society and to facilitate the creation of innovative start-ups” and that

“enhancing the use of digital technologies and online services should become a horizontal policy, covering

all sectors of the economy and of the public sector."2 The European Parliament welcomed this programme

in a Resolution of 19 January 2016 on a Digital Single Market Act and called for ambituous actions.3

Aims of this Study

This study aims to update, for the Digital Single Market, the findings related to EU digital policies of

Civic Consulting Study (2014) on the Contribution of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection to

Growth. To do that this Study analyses (i) the barriers eliminated or reduced by specific DSM legislative

measures adopted during the 8th legislature (2014-2019), (ii) the specific rights and obligations as well

as the legal institutions or procedures introduced or strengthened by those measures and (iii) the

potential future initiatives that should be elaborated and discussed during the forthcoming 9th

legislature. This Study focuses on legal issues and is complemented by the companion economic study

on the benefits of the European Digital Single done by Dr. Scott Marcus and his team at Bruegel.

To analyse the numerous achievement, we organise the DSM measures into six building blocks

following Maciejewski (2015:19) as explained in Figure 1 below.

1 Communication from the Commission of 6 May 2015, A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe, COM(2015) 192.

See https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/shaping-digital-single-market

and http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-connected-digital-single-market

2 Idem, p. 2.

3 2015/2147 (INI).