The European Union has long recognized the importance of regulating digital platforms, including those involved in food delivery, due to their significant impact on competition, user rights, and the labor market. After nearly a decade of development, the EU has finalized a comprehensive regulatory framework for the digital single market, culminating in the adoption of the Law on Artificial Intelligence in March 2024.
At a roundtable organized by the Center for Public Policy Research on Digital Platforms in Serbia, Associate Professor Vukašin Kuč from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade presented insights from the Panacea project on the sharing economy in Serbia. While analyzing the sharing economy landscape in Serbia, Kuč highlighted the dominance of accommodation and transportation sectors, with food delivery excluded from the research due to its distinct nature.
Despite efforts to map sharing economy participants in Serbia, challenges persist in identifying platform owners and establishing communication channels. Kuč emphasized the difficulty in obtaining responses from platforms, hindering efforts to understand their operations and regulatory compliance.
The analysis revealed that a significant portion of platform owners operate outside the purview of domestic regulations, posing challenges for effective oversight. While some EU member states have enacted legislation to regulate digital platforms, Serbia has yet to update its laws since the adoption of the Law on Digital Commerce in 2019, despite the rapid growth of digital platform activity in the country.
Regarding competition, the Commission for the Protection of Competition has identified concerns regarding market dominance by certain food delivery platforms in Serbia. Given the potential impact on competition, the Commission has the authority to investigate and impose measures to ensure a level playing field.
Enhancing transparency in competition enforcement efforts would contribute to a better understanding of market dynamics and foster fair competition. Public disclosure of competition-related initiatives and the Commission’s decisions would provide stakeholders with valuable insights into the state of competition in the digital platform sector.
