Throughout the year, our policy team submits filings with government bodies worldwide to advocate for a regulatory environment that inspires and rewards innovation. From issues around regulating artificial intelligence to digital trade, our team is ACTive on a wide range of topics that could have a positive or negative impact on our small business members driving the app economy. Below is a roundup of our filings from around the globe this past month.
Entity: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness regarding a hearing considering what sensible AI regulation would look like. ACT highlighted how federal and state laws already provide meaningful guardrails against the potential harms of AI, such as prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices, making additional AI-specific regulation in those areas unnecessary. ACT noted the need for national baseline for an AI framework as developing AI-specific laws state by state will cost developers time and difficulty navigating potentially 50 different compliance regimes.
Filed: March 3, 2026
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Entity: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Jurisdiction: Association of Southeast Asian Nations Member States
Summary: In advance of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, ACT wrote a letter to Secretary-General of the ASEAN. ACT urged ASEAN countries to develop a predictable, modern digital governance framework that, among other things, preserves encryption, protects intellectual property rights, prohibits the disclosure of propriety information as a requirement for market entry, and commits to non-discriminatory treatment of regulated parties.
Filed: March 6, 2026
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Entity: European AI Office of the European Commission
Jurisdiction: European Union
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the European AI Office of the European Commission in response to their draft guidelines on the transparency requirements for certain AI systems. ACT advocated for proportional obligations for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs); clarity and more specific definitions within the guideline language, adding an express good-faith reliance principle; maintaining a flexible and technology-neutral approach; clarification that a SME modifying an existing system is not put in the category of a provider of a new AI generative system; coordination of the guidelines with other existing codes to prevent inconsistencies; and implementing design obligations that are easy and clear for SMEs to comply with.
Filed: March 6, 2026
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Entity: Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT wrote to the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in response to their request for information about better securing the development and deployment of AI systems. ACT recommended for CAISI to prioritize AI guidance that is clear, scalable, considers small developers, protects sensitive information, and uses a risk-based approach tied to the operational authority of an AI system.
Filed: March 9, 2026
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Title: Feedback of ACT to the European Commission Regarding Its Digital Fitness Check
Entity: European Commission
Jurisdiction: European Union
Summary: ACT wrote to the European Commission’s consultation on their Digital Fitness Check. ACT welcomed the Commission’s initiative to simplify its digital regulatory environment by assessing the comprehensive and overlapping impact of the EU’s digital rulebook. ACT emphasized how the EU’s current regulatory framework slows small companies’ innovation due to the complexities of comprehending and complying with multiple regulations (the DMA, the DSA, the Data Act, the GDPR, the CRA, and the AI ACT). ACT urged for simplified and “once-only” compliance principles that would both protect digital rights and make compliance workable.
Filed: March 11, 2026
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Title: ACT’s Expression of Interest to Participate in a European Expert Forum on Frontier AI
Entity: European AI Office of the European Commission
Jurisdiction: European Union
Summary: ACT submitted a proposal expressing interest in participating in the European Expert Forum on the European Frontier AI Initiative. ACT outlined how they would represent the interests of the small and medium-sized entities that build AI-powered apps and solutions, which would bring an important perspective to Forum’s discussion on enhancing EU competitiveness, trustworthiness, sovereignty, and security in the frontier AI space.
Filed: March 12, 2026
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Entity: Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Jurisdiction: United Kingdom
Summary: ACT submitted a call for evidence to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding proposed commitments from Apple and Google on app certainty and interoperable access. ACT expressed support for Apple’s and Google’s commitments to the CMA, highlighting how those comments align with and demonstrate significant progress toward ACT’s goals for greater transparency, predictability, and speed in app review, interoperability between products and services provided by different companies, clear and objective rules for app ranking and notification when rules change, maintaining trust and security, and protection for app developer data against use by platforms for their own apps.
Filed: March 12, 2026
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Entity: House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology regarding the hearing, “Powering America’s AI Future: Assessing Policy Options to Increase Data Center Infrastructure.” ACT expressed their strong support for comprehensive, technology-neutral permitting reform that would create a more efficient, predictable, and transparent federal process for building data centers and the energy infrastructure needed to power them. ACT highlighted how many of their members build AI-powered applications that depend on data centers and how the services these data centers provide save small developers millions of dollars, which in turn strengthens U.S. competitiveness.
Filed: March 13, 2026
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Entity: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Jurisdiction: Canada
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) on the OPC regulatory guidance processes, urging them to develop effective guidance to support compliance with privacy requirements under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). ACT urged the OPC to continue to work directly with small businesses and stressed the need for trust, strong privacy and cybersecurity protections, and privacy guidance that is practical, clear, effective, and reflective of operational realities so that small businesses can easily and accurately comply with PIPEDA.
Filed: March 13, 2026
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Entity: U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT wrote to the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce commending their discussions with the Republic of Korea (ROK) that advocated for a more reciprocal and balanced trade relationship. ACT urged the Administration to take actions to ensure the ROK honors its commitment in the November 2025 Joint Fact Sheet by halting the Online Platform Fairness Act which could violate non-discrimination trading principles because Korean regulatory bodies could use vague “fairness” standards to target and assess fines on U.S.-based companies.
Filed: March 13, 2026
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Title: ACT’s Motion in Support of Preliminary Junction in Anthropic v. DOW
Entity: District Court for the Northern District of California
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT filed an amicus brief in support of Anthropic in its suit against the Department of War (DOW). ACT argued that the government’s wholesale and sudden ban against Anthropic should be preliminarily blocked from coming into effect because it would disrupt both public and private supply chains by imposing unpredictable and burdensome responsibilities on the small and medium-sized developers that supply software to government contractors.
Filed: March 13, 2026
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Entity: United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT filed an amicus brief in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in support of Anthropic in its suit against the DOW. ACT argued that the government’s designation of Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” is unlawful and should be blocked from coming into effect. ACT highlighted how the sudden and vague ban would have far-reaching negative impacts on government contracting and the broader digital ecosystem as banning any code generated by Anthropic’s Claude would place undue burdens on developers because it is technically impracticable to determine if code written by their vendors was written by Claude.
Filed: March 17, 2026
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Entity: European Commission
Jurisdiction: European Union
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the European Commission’s request for consultation regarding reform of the European Union’s venture and growth capital funds. ACT advocated for reforms that address regulatory fragmentation, simplify compliance requirements for smaller and mid-sized fund managers, and improve cross-border capital flows across EU Member States. ACT argued that those reforms would make it easier to raise and deploy funds which would help European startups get more access to the capital needed to build and scale-up their startups.
Filed: March 18, 2026
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Title: ACT Submission to the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) Regarding Smartphone Act Compliance
Entity: Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC)
Jurisdiction: Japan
Summary: ACT submitted a statement of interest to the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) providing input regarding the Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA). ACT highlighted the importance of curated online marketplaces (COMs), like the ones operated by Apple and Google, because they lower overhead costs for small businesses and allow developers and consumers to access a trusted marketplace. ACT also stressed that the private sector is the most efficient way to promote interoperability between products and services provided by different companies in a competitive environment.
Filed: March 24, 2026
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Entity: Innovation and Intellectual Property Office of the United States Trade Representative
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT joined multiple organizations to submit comments to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding the 2026 special 301 investigation. ACT highlighted U.S. industry consensus on the intersection of standards, patent rights, competition, and trade; emphasized concerns with the clear and present risk posed by courts in Germany and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in their handling of SEP licensing and injunctive relief; and called upon USTR to take steps to address those concerns, such as documenting violations of the TRIPS Agreement’s requirements, highlight the escalation of U.S. companies being barred from enforcing contractual rights in German and UPC courts, and to engage with states to restore balance to SEP enforcement
Filed: March 27, 2026
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Entity: California Law Revision Commission
Jurisdiction: California
Summary: ACT submitted a letter to the California Law Revision Commission regarding draft language to evaluate anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions. ACT urged the commission to reject codifying market share and concentration thresholds as standards for evaluating anticompetitive mergers as those standards could harm innovation by prohibiting small companies from being acquired if the acquiring company held a significant market share.
Filed: March 30, 2026
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Entity: Office of Science and Technology Policy, Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing, National Science and Technology Council
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy regarding the development of the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing. As standard-essential patents (SEP) are incorporated into common-place technologies such as 5G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth that are crucial to the national supply chain, ACT highlighted the importance of aligning national policy with OMB Circular A-119. That Circular directs federal agencies to use industry- and academia-developed SEP standards because those standards better reflect real world practices which would accelerate innovation and strengthen national security through reduced duplication and compliance costs.
Filed: March 30, 2026
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Entity: California State Assembly Committee on Judiciary
Jurisdiction: United States
Summary: ACT spearheaded a letter from trade associations representing small businesses to the Assembly Committee on Judiciary in the California State Assembly urging the Committee to oppose AB 1776 (COMPETE Act). ACT warned the Committee that the bill would create a broad, California-specific antitrust regime for single-firm conduct that departs from established principles and would impose significant new burdens on small businesses and innovators. ACT noted that the California-specific regime would make it harder for small businesses to compete because the bill would replace predictable guideposts with a more open-ended and litigation-driven liability standard.
Filed: March 31, 2026
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Entity: United Kingdom Department for Business and Trade
Jurisdiction: United Kingdom
Summary: ACT submitted comments to the United Kingdom’s Department of Business and Trade in response to a government consultation request about Refining the UK’s Competition Regime. ACT advocated for clearer and more consistent competition rules that would make it easier for smaller firms to compete as they would spend less time deciphering competition regulations. ACT additionally recommended the UK adopt streamlined and proportional processes to reduce the lengthy business review periods that disproportionately affect small and medium-sized businesses.
Filed: March 31, 2026