The Enforcement of European Digital Regulation: Overlaps and Pathways

The European Union (EU) has intensified its regulatory efforts in the digital domain, resulting in a complex and layered legal framework. Significant attention has focused on the lack of coherence across legislation and other regulatory instruments, while less consideration has been given to enforcement, particularly to the expansion of powers and overlaps of responsibilities distributed across multiple national and supranational authorities. This article aims to address the primary challenges to the enforcement of the EU digital acquis and explore potential pathways for enhancing its effectiveness. The first part provides examples of how the growing number of EU legal instruments in the European digital policy, particularly targeting digital services, has not fully considered the intersections between different technologies and regulatory frameworks. The second part then underlines how these substantive overlaps translate into enforcement challenges. It addresses the quantitative dimension of the enforcement framework, detailing the multiplicity of bodies involved while analysing the overlapping competences that arise from this institutional complexity from the national and supranational perspectives. The final section explores possible solutions, evaluating opportunities and limitations of various pathways to improve the enforcement of European digital regulation.