Washington — The Computer & Communications Industry Association offered comments to Israeli antitrust officials today. The Israeli Antitrust Authority had requested comments about competition issues with the digitalization of the global economy.
CCIA has advocated for robust competition in the tech industry since 1972. The not for profit international trade association has been concerned lately by attempts to politicize antitrust policy and for some companies to push for investigations of competitors.
In its filing, CCIA noted that “data itself should not be seen as a barrier to entry, or to automatically grant a competitive advantage in the market. […] Human capacity and better products such as improved algorithms, rather than data or scarcity thereof, is what is necessary to compete in data-driven markets.”
The following can be attributed to CCIA Director of Competition & Regulatory Policy Marianela López-Galdos:
“We appreciate Israeli enforcers asking questions and getting a better understanding around competition issues concerning the digital economy as for example the consideration of data as an asset. There is a global push to use misunderstandings of tech and data issues to get authorities to mistakenly target innovative companies with regulations that would harm innovation and consumer welfare.”
“Proposals to classify data as a so-called ‘essential input’ are unfounded and rest on a misunderstanding of the concept of data that is, among other things, non-rivalrous. The scenario where the accumulation of data by a firm would raise an antitrust concern under the essential facilities doctrine is very unlikely, if not implausible.”