Yesterday Patently Apple posted a report titled "The Netherland's Antitrust Authority has levied its fifth consecutive fine against Apple over the App Store's non-compliance for payment options." This trend didn't escape the attention of the EU Commission's VP Margrethe Vestager who commented on this at a news conference earlier today, according to Reuters.

Vestager stated that some U.S. tech giants may prefer to pay a fine rather than comply with antitrust rule and cited Apple as an example regarding the Netherland's Competition Authority. Vestager added that Apple’s behavior could indicate how other big companies may behave in the future.

"Some gatekeepers may be tempted to play for time or try to circumvent the rules.  Apple’s conduct in the Netherlands these days may be an example. As we understand it, Apple essentially prefers paying periodic fines, rather than comply with a decision of the Dutch Competition Authority on the terms and conditions for third parties to access its App Store."

In addition to Vestager's online speech for a U.S. awards ceremony, she gave another speech in Europe regarding their new "Data Act." Vestager stated in-part:

"Today, we adopted the proposal for the Data Act – an important step towards the creation of a single European market for data. We announced the Data Act in our European Strategy two years ago.

The data act clarifies who can access and share data, and on what terms. It provides legal certainty and it aims at removing barriers to data sharing. This is our second main legislative initiative directly related to data. The first one was the Data Governance Act. It provided the legal framework for trustworthy infrastructures needed to promote data sharing. And as you know that proposal is adopted.

We have already launched a number of initiatives to "shape Europe's digital future." This includes our proposal on trustworthy AI, our work on digital platforms, as you will know it from Digital Services and the Digital Markets Acts, both now in trilogues, our "Digital Compass" and our recently proposed Declaration of digital rights and principles.

The aim of all our initiatives is two-fold: We want to unleash the huge benefits that the responsible use of data and digital technologies can bring to every one of us. At the same time, we want safe use of data and technologies. A use that works for people and respects our fundamental rights. That means addressing the risks that may be associated with the use of technologies – risks to our privacy, risk to our integrity, even risk to our physical and mental health."

The speech went on to cover the following topics:

• Benefits of data sharing
• The main part: B2C and B2B data sharing
• The Fairness Test
• Cloud switching
• B2G data sharing
• Interoperability

To read the specifics outlined today, read the full speech below in our Scribd document.

Speech by EU Commission Executive VP Vestager on the Data Act by Jack Purcher on Scribd