The impact of EU online platform regulation on EU productivity: a preliminary assessment

As the EU embarks on its next five year legislative and institutional term, improving EU productivity is at the top of the agenda, with the new Draghi Report setting the tone. Together with this new focus, regulatory simplification is finally receiving the attention that it deserves.

As a contribution to this newly intense discussion, this paper reviews (1) both the positive and negative effects of specific significant EU laws relevant to the digital world enacted in the past ten years, and the relative balance of gains and losses; (2) the effects that might be expected going forward from key EU measures relevant to the digital world that were enacted so recently that actual experience is not yet available; (3) the measures undertaken at EU level to reduce these burdens, and the degree to which they either have, or have not, been effective in reducing burdens; and (4) steps that could potentially be taken at EU and at Member State level in order to mitigate the burden associated with EU laws relevant to the digital world.