On 10 March 2021, the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum ("DRCF") published its first annual plan of work for 2021/22. The plan of work establishes a road map for how the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA"), the Office of Communications ("Ofcom") and the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") will work together to ensure coordination on regulatory matters across digital markets and online services.
Background
The CMA, ICO and Ofcom have a wide range of regulatory responsibilities across digital markets, which include promoting competition, protecting consumers, protecting people's data rights, regulating communication services and broadcasting and regulating harmful content.
On 1 July 2020, the DRCF published its launch document setting out that the overarching ambition of the DRCF is to support cooperation and coordination between the CMA, ICO and Ofcom in relation to online regulatory matters, and to enable coherent, informed and responsive regulation of UK digital markets. The Financial Conduct Authority will also join as a full member of the DRCF as of April 2021.
The 2021/22 plan of work has been published following several major developments since the DRCF was formed, including the UK Government confirming that it would establish and resource the Digital Markets Unit ("DMU") within the CMA from April 2021, and naming Ofcom as the regulator for online safety in the Online Harms White Paper, with powers to impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global annual turnover (whichever is the higher).
A joined-up approach to digital regulation
The DRCF has identified the following three priorities to support its strategic ambitions as part of its 2021/22 plan of work:
- Priority 1: Responding strategically to industry and technological developments through horizon scanning, and cooperating on joint strategic projects to provide regulatory coherence and clarity for business and digital service users. This includes service design, algorithmic processing, digital advertising technologies and end-to-end encryption.
- Priority 2: Developing joined-up regulatory approaches to ensure coherent regulatory outcomes, which will include a focus on the interrelation between data protection and competition regulation. This work will also consider how new regimes for online regulation may interact with wider existing regulation such as financial regulation, intellectual property rights, and content regulation.
- Priority 3: Building skills and capabilities by working together to build collective technical, expertise and analytical capabilities (for example, in artificial intelligence and data analysis), and engaging closely with other regulatory authorities responsible for digital markets.
The DCRF also plans to improve clarity for stakeholders through collective engagement, including through public documents and international engagement, as well as more operational proposals to build the capabilities of the DRCF so that it is fit for purpose.
Comment
The DRCF represents a shift towards a more holistic regulatory approach to digital markets. However, as a non-statutory network, the 2021/22 plan recognises that "future challenges have the potential to test the limits of our collaboration under our current frameworks". The DCRF intends to review its existing bilateral memoranda of understanding between regulators, and the work plan indicates that the DCRF is engaging with the UK Government to identify whether further measures may be needed to support cooperation between its members, including the possibility of statutory measures to enable greater information sharing arrangements.
With thanks to Florence Fry of Ashurst for her contribution.
