Digital markets have exposed a growing tension at the heart of EU competition law. For decades, the consumer welfare standard has served as its dominant analytical paradigm, shaping both doctrine and enforcement practice. Yet, the rise of data-driven platforms, zero-price services, and algorithmic market power has revealed the limits of this paradigm. In response, fairness has re-emerged as an increasingly prominent yet conceptually ambiguous concept in competition law discourse. Against this backdrop, this book offers a systematic and original rethinking of the relationship between consumer welfare and fairness. Rather than treating fairness as a competing objective or a vague normative aspiration, it develops a functional perspective in which fairness operates as an analytical tool embedded within Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, rather than as an autonomous regulatory goal. Combining doctrinal analysis, comparative insights, and empirical text-mining of enforcement practice, the study demonstrates that fairness has already been implicitly present in EU competition law discourse. Building on this finding, it proposes a structured framework comprising a proportionality-based fairness test, a behaviour catalogue, and a single gateway rule to reconcile ex ante regulation under the Digital Markets Act with ex post competition enforcement. By bridging theoretical debates, empirical evidence, and practical enforcement design, this work provides a coherent, implementable and forward-looking model for addressing the challenges posed by digital platforms.(ARKA KAPAKTAN)

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
1.1. This Study
1.2. Research Questions
1.3. Methodology of the Research and Limitations
1.3.1. Doctrinal and Comparative Analysis
1.3.2. Regulatory-Policy Analysis
1.3.3. Empirical Text-Mining of the Fairness Rhetoric
1.3.4. Normative Framework Design and Scenario Testing
1.3.5. Cross-Cutting Reliability and Limitations
1.4. Chapter Breakdown
1.4.1. Chapter 2
1.4.2. Chapter 3
1.4.3. Chapter 4
1.4.4. Chapter 5
1.4.5. Chapter 6
1.4.6. Chapter 7
1.5. Original Contribution of the Research

 

CHAPTER 2:
NEW REALITIES OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY: CHALLENGES FOR THE EU COMPETITION LAW
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Characteristics of the Digital Economy
2.2.1. Network Effects
2.2.2. Pricing Structure
2.2.3. Critical Mass, Multi-Homing and Switching Costs
2.2.4. Reliance on Data
2.2.5. Diversification of Business Models and Vertical Integration
2.2.6. The Tendency to Grow Over Profits
2.2.7. Competition for the Market
2.2.8. Tendency for Oligopoly
2.3. Difficulties in the Examination of Digital Conduct
2.3.1. Market Delineation
2.3.2. Assessment of Dominance and Market Power
2.4. Conclusions

 

CHAPTER 3:
THE MAINSTREAM GOAL OF THE EU COMPETITION LAW: FOUNDATIONS AND CRITICISMS OF CONSUMER WELFARE
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Background
3.3. Fundamentals of Total Welfare
3.4. Different Interpretations of Consumer Welfare
3.4.1. Consumer Surplus Standard Narrow Consumer Welfare
3.4.2. Extended Consumer Welfare
3.4.3. Consumer Welfare Focused on the Choice and Consumer Sovereignty
3.5. Criticisms Targeting Welfarist Goals
3.5.1. Criticisms on Economic Theoretical Grounds
3.5.2. Criticisms on the Digital Economy Grounds
3.6. Interpretation of Consumer and Consumer Welfare Concepts in the EU
3.6.1. The Place of Consumers Before the Introduction of Consumer Welfare
3.6.2. Introduction of Consumer Welfare by the Commission
3.6.3. Reflection of Consumer Welfare in Soft Law
3.6.4. Reflection of Consumer Welfare in Case Law
3.7. Conclusions

 

CHAPTER 4:
GATEKEEPERS, FAIRNESS AND THE CONCURRENT ENFORCEMENT DILEMMA: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE DMA
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Rationale and Goals of the DMA
4.2.1. The Process Leading to the DMA
4.2.2. The Right not to Be Prosecuted and Punished Twice
4.2.3. Complementary Nature and Objectives of the DMA
4.3. DMA's Approach to Structural Failures
4.3.1. Background of DMA Implementation Standards
4.3.2. Solutions of the DMA
4.4. Criticisms of the DMA
4.4.1. Criticisms on Goals and Legal Ground
4.4.2. Criticisms on the DMA's Approach to Structural Failures
4.5. Conclusions

 

CHAPTER 5:
FROM FOOTNOTE TO FRONT STAGE: THE RISE OF FAIRNESS RHETORIC IN EU COMPETITION LAW DISCOURSE
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Rhetorical Shift in Fairness and Consumer Welfare Language
5.2.1. Methodology for Measuring the Language Change
5.2.2. Findings on Rhetorical Change in Fairness and Consumer Welfare Language
5.3. Linking the DMA Obligations to Their Jurisprudential Origins
5.3.1. Methodology for Linking the DMA Obligations to the Case Law
5.3.2. Findings on Case-Law Foundations of the DMA's Fairness Catalogue
5.4. Synthesis of Rhetorical Change and Case Law Findings
5.5. Conclusions

 

CHAPTER 6:
FROM DESIGN TO DEPLOYMENT: A FUNCTIONAL FAIRNESS FRAMEWORK OF TEST, CATALOGUE AND GATEWAY
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Pluralism and Public Policy Goals in EU Competition Law
6.2.1. Historical Roots of Pluralism
6.2.2. Inventory of Public Policy Considerations
6.2.3. The Consumer Welfare Turn and the Purpose Instrument Confusion
6.2.4. Advancing Analytical Tests Over Goal Labels in EU Competition Law
6.3. Operationalising Fairness in EU Competition Law
6.3.1. The Ambiguity of Fairness
6.3.2. Fairness as a Structured Proportionality Filter
6.3.3. Compatibility with Consumer Welfare Analysis
6.3.4. Clarifications for Possible Criticisms
6.4. Development of a Functional Fairness Framework
6.4.1. Deriving the Proportionality-Based Fairness Test
6.4.2. Fairness Behaviour Catalogue
6.4.3. DMA Alignment and the Single Gateway Rule
6.5. Cross-Sector Transferability
6.5.1. Energy Data Access and Smart-Meter Gatekeepers
6.5.2. Open Banking APIs and Access Discrimination in FinTech
6.5.3. Digital-Health Triage and Self-Referral Bias
6.5.4. Further Suggestions for Contemporary Risk Domains
6.6. Conclusions

 

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS

 

APPENDIX: CENTRAL PARAGRAPH CORPUS
BIBLIOGRAPHY