Abstract
In line with the goal to achieve a fair and competitive econo- my, Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Digital Markets Act) and Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) – composing the so called Di- gital Services Act Package – aim at introducing a uniform legal framework for digital services provided in the Union, mainly protecting EU-based reci- pients, companies and the whole society from new risks and challenges stemming from new and innovative business models and services, such as online social networks and online platforms. Namely, the ambition of the abovementioned regulations is, on the one hand, to regulate, with an ex ante approach, platform activities so to reduce side-effects of the platform econo- my and therefore ensure contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and, on the other hand, to introduce EU uniform to grant a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment for recipients (e.g. liability of providers of intermediary services for illegal contents and on obligations on transpa- rency, online interface design and organization, online advertising). Despite expressly recognising the inherently cross-border nature of the Internet, which is generally used to provide digital services, DMA and DSA do not contain any private international law rule or provide for any provision on the relationship between the two sectors, but only state that their rules do not prejudice EU rules on judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters. Therefore, the present article will discuss the role of private inter- national law rules in the daily application of DMA and DSA to cross-border situations. Accordingly, after having ascertained the so called extraterritorial effects of the new rule on digital markets and digital services and assessed their overriding mandatory nature, the author first investigates the role that conflict-of-laws provisions could possibly play in the application of DMA and DSA, by integrating such regimes, and then suggests a possible role also for rules on jurisdiction in a private enforcement perspective, highlighting po- tential scenarios and possible difficulties arising from the need to coordinate two different set of rules (i.e. substantive provisions on digital markets and digital services, on the one hand, and private international rules, on the other hand).