Chapter V · Art. 20–43
The Commission as the sole enforcer of the Regulation: investigative powers, interim measures and commitments, non-compliance decisions, fines and periodic penalty payments, procedural safeguards and cooperation with national authorities and courts.
Proceedings and investigative powers (Art. 20–25)
Art. 20 Opening of proceedings Opening of proceedings by Commission decision, the precondition for non-compliance decisions, systematic non-compliance investigations and other decisions.
Art. 21 Requests for information Requests for information by simple request or by decision, including access to data and algorithms and explanations of them. Incorrect, incomplete or misleading information may be fined.
Art. 23 Powers to conduct inspections Inspections at the premises of undertakings on the basis of an authorisation or a Commission decision, with the assistance of national authorities and, where needed, the police.
Art. 24 Interim measures Interim measures in cases of urgency on the basis of a prima facie finding of an infringement and a risk of serious and irreparable damage, only in non-compliance proceedings. The Commission has not adopted any so far.
Art. 25 Commitments Commitments offered by the gatekeeper in systematic non-compliance proceedings under Article 18, which the Commission may make binding by implementing act.
Monitoring, information from third parties and the compliance function (Art. 26–28)
Art. 27 Information by third parties Anyone may inform the Commission or a national competition authority about a gatekeeper’s practices, but there is no right to have the information acted upon.
Art. 28 Compliance function A compliance function independent of operational functions, with sufficient authority, stature and resources, whose head reports to the management body and cannot be removed without its consent.
Non-compliance, fines and periodic penalty payments (Art. 29–31)
Art. 29 Non-compliance Non-compliance decisions ordering the gatekeeper to cease the non-compliance. Four by 10 October 2026: Meta and Apple in April 2025, Alphabet for Google Search and Google Play in July 2026.
Art. 30 Fines Fines of up to 10 % of total worldwide turnover, up to 20 % for repeated infringements and up to 1 % for procedural breaches. The Commission has imposed EUR 1.59 billion in total: Apple 500 million, Meta 200 million, Alphabet 460 and 430 million.
Art. 31 Periodic penalty payments Periodic penalty payments of up to 5 % of average daily worldwide turnover for each day, to compel compliance with a decision. The Commission may reduce the definitive amount.
Limitation periods and the right to be heard (Art. 32–34)
Annual reports, professional secrecy, cooperation and other instruments (Art. 35–43)
Art. 35 Annual reporting Annual reports by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Regulation. Three so far, for 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Art. 36 Professional secrecy Purpose limitation for information gathered and a prohibition on disclosing information covered by professional secrecy, including by auditors and experts.
Art. 39 Cooperation with national courts Cooperation with national courts: information and opinions from the Commission, its observations to the court and a ban on rulings that run counter to a Commission decision.
Art. 40 The high-level group A high-level group of European regulatory bodies and networks that advises the Commission, in particular on interactions with other sector-specific rules.
Art. 41 Request for a market investigation Requests by Member States for market investigations. One Member State suffices for systematic non-compliance, three are needed otherwise. The Commission assesses the request within four months.
Art. 42 Representative actions Directive (EU) 2020/1828 applies to representative actions against infringements that harm the collective interests of consumers. In Czechia, the Act on collective civil proceedings.