Tax-free

owner of the social network TikTok.

After years of fruitlessly pursuing transgressions resulting in never­ending legal proceedings, the new Digital Markets Act (DMA) gives the Commission the power to impose regulations which the big hitters must comply with or pay huge fines.

The goal is to take action before abusive behaviour destroys competition, the Commission explained.

Only gatekeepers ­ companies which cannot be ignored because of their standing in online sales, search engines, social networks and operating systems ­ will face DMA bans and obligations.

Gatekeepers had until July 3 to notify the Commission once the DMA came into effect in early May. The Commission is now drawing up a list of all potential gatekeepers who will be given six months to comply with the DMA, the Commission said.

THIERRY ANDRETTA, chief executive of luxury leather goods firm Mulberry, declared that scrapping taxfree shopping for tourists was affecting UK sales. Andretta and other retailers contradicted Treasury claims that eliminating the tourist tax would cost an annual £2 billion (€2.35 billion) a year and maintained that there would be a net gain of around £350 million (€410.4 billion).

Not so sweet

FERRERO IBERICA, Spanish subsidiary of the Italian group Ferrero which owns Nutella, Kinder and Ferrero Rocher, improved sales by more than €17 million to approximately €289 million last year. The increase was the result of higher overheads caused by inflation and the Spanish company, whose margins were reduced, earned €5.7 million, 3 per cent less than in 2021.