The European Union is hoping US President-elect Joe Biden's stance on digital taxation will be clarified within two months of his inauguration as it continues to clamp down on Big Tech on the European market.
Wearable tech
The bloc is currently considering an EU-wide tax on digital services offered by Big Tech companies such as Amazon or Google if global regulation is not agreed upon by mid-2021.
Talks commenced at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) this year about implementing such regulations but were delayed. The Trump administration also showed scepticism towards signing a multilateral digital trade agreement of this calibre shortly before taking office.
An external auditor recently admitted the EU has been "too slow" in tackling Big Tech companies dominating the EU market and leveraging it into an unfair advantage over smaller competitors.
The EU is worried these companies will monopolise the single market in the same way they have in the US.
Read more: EU Hits Amazon With Antitrust Charges Over France and Germany Market Dominance
A French ministry source told Reuters that EU heads of state are set to revisit the topic in March or April and decide on the necessary actions.
They said: “Obviously, March was not chosen by chance. March will be two months after Biden takes office. We hope to have contacts within these two months with the new American administration.
“Depending on what the Biden administration says, the European Council - it’s at the level of EU heads of state and government - will give guidelines in March."
France is quickly putting together a digital services tax that could be applied if the OECD talks fall through.
Read more: France and Netherlands Join The EU's Campaign Against Big Tech
The nation already has a national digital services tax but has agreed to scrap it once an international agreement is met.
Britain is also facing its own struggles with digital services providers.
Last month, it came to light that Amazon had been evading a similar digital tax imposed by the UK by charging third-party sellers for using its platform.
The scheme, if followed, would generate in excess of £500 million (€550 million) for the Treasury.
It is assumed that Britain will not form part of this potential multilateral agreement, owing to its deadline for Brexit being delivered on January 1.
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