G7 competition summit in Tokyo: Policy makers and enforcers adopt declaration on competition in the digital sector, focusing especially on artificial intelligence

At today’s G7 Joint Competition Policy Makers & Enforcers Summit, representatives of the G7 member states (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA) and the European Commission discussed competition law enforcement in the digital sector and legal reforms. In a joint statement, competition authorities and policy makers underline the importance of competition in the digital sector and their determination to protect and promote free competition, particularly also in the field of rapidly developing technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and the metaverse.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Especially in the digital sector, we can benefit greatly from not only interdisciplinary but also international exchange. We see competition authorities around the world being equipped with new tools which are inspired by each other and which ultimately should complement each other in the best possible way. In this process, we are increasingly able to build on a successful enforcement practice. This year’s G7 competition summit will once again bring together competition authorities and policy makers to inform each other, share experiences and discuss how our tools can continue to promote open markets and fair competition in the digital economy in the future, especially in the light of evolving technologies. Artificial intelligence is one of the focus areas of the exchange. Although there are promising models from smaller start-ups, large digital companies could increasingly benefit from existing advantages, such as access to data and computing power, when and by developing such models. This makes it all the more important to remain vigilant when it comes to a key technology such as AI and to continue to foster international exchange especially in this area.”

In addition to the Digital Competition Communiqué, two other documents were presented during the summit: the “Policy Makers Inventory” was revised with the OECD’s support and provides an overview of the legislative approaches to competition in digital markets within the G7 community in order to improve mutual understanding and promote cooperation. The “Compendium” outlines the most important aspects of the work of the individual G7 competition authorities in the digital sector and continues the format already established by the British Competition and Markets Authority during the British G7 presidency in 2021.

The 2022 G7 competition summit was hosted by the Bundeskartellamt and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in Berlin.