The EU has issued an update on digital marketing and sales, with the target of the new regulations being bigger companies with websites attracting millions of visitors each month. Here’s the press info;
An important step has been taken today (23rd April) with the provisional political agreement reached on the Digital Services Act (DSA) between the Council and the European Parliament. In terms of ambition, the nature of the actors regulated and the innovative aspect of the supervision involved, the DSA is a world first in the field of digital regulation. The DSA follows the principle that what is illegal offline must also be illegal online. It aims to protect the digital space against the spread of illegal content, and to ensure the protection of users’ fundamental rights.
Scope
The DSA will apply to all online intermediaries providing services in the EU.
The obligations introduced are proportionate to the nature of the services concerned and tailored to the number of users, meaning that very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) will be subject to more stringent requirements. Services with more than 45 million monthly active users in the European Union will fall into the category of very large online platforms and very large search engines.
To safeguard the development of start-ups and smaller enterprises in the internal market, micro and small enterprises with under 45 million monthly active users in the EU will be exempted from certain new obligations.
Governance
In order to ensure effective and uniform implementation of requirements under the DSA, the Council and Parliament have decided to confer on the Commission exclusive power to supervise VLOPs and VLOSEs for the obligations specific to this type of actor. They will be supervised at European level in cooperation with the member states. This new supervisory mechanism maintains the country-of-origin principle, which will continue to apply to other actors and requirements covered by the DSA.
Online marketplaces
Given the important role played by these actors in the daily lives of European consumers, the DSA will impose a duty of care on marketplaces vis-à-vis sellers who sell their products or services on their online platforms. Marketplaces will in particular have to collect and display information on the products and services sold in order to ensure that consumers are properly informed.
Be the first to comment