Antoine Cèbe

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?

I am currently in the second year of my PhD in European law, at Université Paris Panthéon Assas' Center for European Law. My research focuses on the legal status of large digital companies in European Union law. While the development of the European Union's digital economy was seen, at the time of the adoption of the e-commerce directive on 8 June 2000, as a driver of growth and innovation, the high concentration of its markets among a few very large companies and the proliferation of its negative externalities have prompted the European Union legislator to attempt to bring it into line with economic order by adopting two regulations: the Digital Services Act of 14 September 2022 and the Digital Markets Act of 19 October 2022. To this end, the two regulations create an ad hoc legal status for large digital companies in the European Union's digital economy. The creation of this legal status stems from the introduction of specific qualifications with the same objective, namely, to limit their market power to the market and within the market. While the European Union legislator sought to curb the power of these large digital companies by introducing this legal status, it also enshrined their place in the new regulation of the European digital economy. These large companies seem to be becoming the vehicle for the establishment of a European digital and economic order.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?

I will be on exchange for the Hilary term thanks to the exchange programme between the Faculty of Law at Oxford University and the Maison française d'Oxford. During this period, I will be affiliated with the Institute of European and Comparative Law (IECL).

First impressions of Oxford/the University?

Oxford is a unique place to pursue research. If you first discover the university's incredible collection of documents, its tranquillity and its many libraries, it is also a special place for meeting people and teaching.