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"Self-preferencing" refers to a conduct of a large provider of core platform services which consists in favouring one's own products and services over those offered by competitors on the same platform. Drawing on the experience acquired through its various antitrust investigations into the conducts of Big Tech, the European Commission, in its its "proposal for the Digital Market Act", has put forward the concept of "gatekeeper". If adopted, this regulatory instrument which aims at ensuring fairness and transparency in the EU digital markets, would enable the Commission to qualify as such any large core platform service on the basis of narrowly defined objectives criteria and submit it to a set of prohibitions and obligations. By opting for such an approach, the Commission would be able to switch from an ex-post assessment of a gatekeepers' self-preferencing practices to an ex-ante one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the move of the European Commission (EC) to replace the dominance standard, which has been into force in 1990, with a recast test. The author cites the aim of the Commission in adopting the new method including the desire to close a possible enforcement gap under the dominance test and most importantly the methodological framework it possesses. Moreover, the historical background of the adoption of the dominance standard is presented as well as the reason as to why it was chosen as opposed to any other competition-based tests that prevailed during the time. Also provided is explanation of the concept dominance.