EU Digital Rules Crippled by Fragmented Enforcement, Experts Warn
Analysts call for a single independent enforcer to manage a 'regulatory thicket' of hundreds of overlapping mandates.
The European Union has developed a massive framework of digital regulations but lacks the administrative infrastructure to actually apply them. Kai Zenner and Maria Koomen argue that this gap between law-making and enforcement threatens the effectiveness of the bloc's digital strategy.
According to the authors, the current system is defined by extreme fragmentation. Their research indicates there are 171 EU digital laws currently enforced by 315 different bodies, which together hold 597 overlapping mandates. Zenner and Koomen contend that the EU has built these rules faster than it has built the capacity to enforce them, resulting in a system that is inefficient and creates significant legal uncertainty.
The Densest Rulebook in the World
This crisis is the result of fifteen years of aggressive digital law-making. During this period, the EU has produced what Zenner and Koomen describe as the "densest rulebook in the world," including landmark legislation such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). However, while the laws themselves are centralized, the administrative structure for their execution remains scattered across various national agencies and EU-level bodies.
The Cost of Fragmentation
This structural divide has created a "regulatory thicket" that burdens both the companies subject to the rules and the agencies tasked with oversight. The authors warn that without a centralized, independent authority to streamline the process, the EU risks possessing powerful laws on paper that are inconsistently applied or impossible to enforce in practice. Such a failure could ultimately undermine the EU's broader goals of digital sovereignty and the integrity of the Single Market.
A Path Toward Centralization
To resolve these inefficiencies, Zenner and Koomen propose the creation of a single, independent enforcer. Such a body would be designed to consolidate the current fragmented mandates and provide a clear, unified point of application for EU digital laws. The authors suggest that only by streamlining enforcement can the EU ensure its complex regulatory ambitions translate into actual market stability and compliance.