The Court of Justice in Android Auto established that certain dominant digital platforms may no longer rely on the strict Bronner requirements when outright refusing access to their infrastructure. The impact of this landmark judgment remains to be seen and issues such as its scope and relevant legal tests are still unclear. This paper explains the factual background to the dispute and provides a critical analysis of the Court’s key findings. It then assesses the judgment’s wider implications and argues that it should not be extended beyond digital platform markets. Furthermore, the uncertainty surrounding how to determine whether a platform was developed to enable third parties to use it is also discussed. Last, this paper assesses how the effects assessment may be carried out in future outright refusal cases involving open digital platforms.
Fåhraeus et al. (Wed,) studied this question.