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EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) FAQ

Fast answers to common DMA questions (scope, obligations, deadlines, reporting).

Grounded in the legal text and Commission guidance pages and templates.

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Author

Sorena AI

Published

Feb 21, 2026

Updated

Feb 23, 2026

Questions

Structured answer sets in this page tree.

Primary sources

Cited legal and guidance references.

Publication metadata

Sorena AI

Published Feb 21, 2026

Updated Feb 23, 2026

Overview

This DMA FAQ focuses on the questions people actually search for: gatekeeper designation, what a core platform service is, what obligations apply, what the key deadlines are, what evidence is expected, and how to use official Commission resources and submission channels.

Question 1

What is a DMA gatekeeper?

A gatekeeper is an undertaking providing core platform services (CPS) that is designated pursuant to DMA Article 3.

Gatekeeper status is tied to specific CPS listed in the designation decision, not just the company in the abstract.

Designation hinges on market impact, gateway role, and an entrenched/durable position (Article 3).
Quantitative thresholds create a presumption (e.g., EUR 7.5B EU turnover / EUR 75B market cap, 45M monthly active end users, 10,000 yearly active business users).
The Commission publishes and updates a public list of designated gatekeepers and their listed CPS.

Question 2

What counts as a core platform service (CPS)?

The DMA defines CPS categories explicitly (Article 2).

CPS mapping is a practical engineering task: your CPS boundaries should match how systems ship and how users experience them.

CPS categories include: online intermediation services, online search engines, online social networking services, video-sharing platform services, number-independent interpersonal communications services, operating systems, web browsers, virtual assistants, cloud computing services, and online advertising services linked to those CPS categories.
Obligations apply per listed CPS - if you operate multiple CPS, implementation workstreams differ per CPS.
Document CPS boundaries and dependencies (ranking, ads stack, APIs, data sharing) for defensible compliance.

Question 3

What are the key DMA deadlines?

Three deadlines drive most execution planning: notification (2 months), designation (45 working days), and compliance (6 months after listing).

Messaging interoperability (Article 7) has additional staged timelines (2 years / 4 years) for certain functionalities.

Notify the Commission within 2 months after thresholds are met (Article 3(3)).
Commission designation deadline: within 45 working days after receiving complete information (Article 3(4)).
Compliance deadline: comply with Articles 5-7 within 6 months after the CPS is listed in the designation decision (Article 3(10)).
Article 7: staged interoperability deadlines within 2 years and 4 years from designation for group messaging and calling features.

Question 4

How many gatekeepers and core platform services are currently designated?

As of 6 March 2026, the Commission's public DMA gatekeeper page lists 7 designated gatekeepers and 23 designated core platform services.

That public list is useful because it shows that designation is service specific and can change over time as the Commission reviews evidence.

Initial designations on 6 Sep 2023 covered 6 gatekeepers.
Apple iPadOS was added on 29 Apr 2024 and Booking.com was added on 13 May 2024.
Meta's Facebook Marketplace was undesignated on 23 Apr 2025.
On 5 Feb 2026, the Commission concluded Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated after Apple had notified those services.

Question 5

What are the main obligations under the DMA?

The core obligation set for gatekeepers is in Articles 5, 6, and 7.

In practice, these obligations translate into product requirements (choice screens, default settings), platform access requirements (third-party apps/app stores, API access), and data requirements (portability and data separation).

Article 5: constraints on personal data combination for ads (consent requirements), anti-steering obligations, and bans on tying to gatekeeper services (e.g., payment services).
Article 6: uninstall and default setting changes, enabling third-party app distribution/app stores, ranking neutrality (no self-preferencing), data portability and business-user data access, and interoperability/access to OS features (Article 6(7)).
Article 7: request-based interoperability for number-independent interpersonal communications services with staged feature timelines.

Question 6

What is the Article 11 compliance report and what evidence is expected?

The Commission provides a template form for reporting pursuant to Article 11 (compliance report). It explains the minimum information gatekeepers should provide and expects detailed, transparent explanations.

The template expects per CPS and per applicable obligation: a compliance statement and an exhaustive explanation, with supporting data and internal documents (often including demos and illustrations).

Plan evidence early: capture prior state, implementation dates, scope, and engineering/UX changes as you ship.
Keep underlying raw data ready for requests and store evidence in machine-readable formats where possible.
Update cadence: the template guidance states compliance reports are updated at least annually.

Question 7

How do I contact the Commission or submit DMA-related information?

The Commission's DMA Q&A page provides practical contact guidance for questions, submissions, and meeting requests.

For secure document transmission, the Commission references EU SEND as a secure exchange platform.

General DMA questions, submissions, and meeting requests: use the Commission contact guidance on the DMA Q&A page and the DMA registry details published on the practical information pages.
Secure document transmission: use EU SEND and include relevant DMA case references where applicable.
Stakeholder reports: third parties can inform national competent authorities or the Commission about practices that fall within DMA scope.

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