Author
Mr Tanmay Doneria
Organisation/Institution
Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law
Country
INDIA
Panel
Competition Law
Title
Digital Competition in Asia: Regulatory Pluralism Beyond the Digital Markets Act
Abstract
The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) represents a landmark shift in digital competition regulation, introducing ex-ante obligations for designated gatekeepers to promote fairness and contestability. While DMA has significantly influenced global discourse, its rigid structure and contentious outcomes have drawn criticism even within Europe. This paper opposes wholesale regulatory replication of DMA in Asian jurisdictions. Instead, it elucidates the emergence of regulatory pluralism, characterised by increasing rejection of regulatory parallelism in favour of formulating context-sensitive frameworks tailored to local ecosystems, market realities, and socio-economic priorities. This pluralism is evident in India’s withdrawal of the DMA-inspired Digital Competition Bill in 2025, Japan’s targeted interoperability rules, Korea’s focus on algorithmic accountability and platform transparency, and Indonesia’s new MSME-centric approach. National efforts are complemented by regional networks such as ASEAN’s Experts Group on Competition, which fosters cooperation without homogeneity through its Competition Action Plan 2025, East Asia Forum on Competition Policy and UNCTAD/OECD, which facilitate shared legal knowledge and regional integration while respecting jurisdictional diversity. The impetus for this legal transfiguration is rooted in a nuanced regional strategy for the creation of a resilient and self-sufficient digital market. This entails a dual commitment towards justice, addressing both market participants. For businesses, it secures economic justice by ensuring equitable market access. Concurrently, for consumers, it translates into protection against data-driven exploitation, which is not a meagre privacy violation but an anti-competitive practice. This paper argues that in order to create a sustainable digital economy and prevent exploitation by digital giants, Asian jurisdiction must expand their competition mandates to build a just and sustainable digital economy. Furthermore, it positions Asia not as a passive recipient but as a proactive architect of digital competition law, ensuring sustainable development, justice, and promoting regional integration through pluralistic legal knowledge.
Biography
Competition law is one of my major areas of research, with a primary focus on the emerging legal challenges within digital markets and economies. I engage principally in doctrinal research to analyse and address these complex issues. Inter alia, my experience includes projects exploring the evolving role of data as a determinant of market power in the digital economy, critically analysing the mechanisms for calculating penalties under India's competition framework, and examining the complex interface between sustainability goals and competition law.
