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One of the initial steps towards regulating the European digital transition was the so-called “directive on electronic commerce”, adopted twenty years ago; for the then 15 EU member states and the EEA countries. Then, the Regulation has been approved in 2022 on the presently known “digital single market” (DSM); the newly Commission’s published a report assessing the DSA’s interaction with other EU laws and its designation process for very large online platforms and search engines.
Background
Information society services and especially intermediary services have become an important part of the Union’s economy and the daily life of Union citizens. Twenty years after the adoption of the existing legal framework applicable to such services laid down in Directive 2000/31/EC, new and innovative business models and services, such as online social networks and online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders, have allowed business users and consumers to access information and engage in transactions in novel ways.
More on the Directive 2000/31/EC (8 June 2000) on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (“Directive on electronic commerce”), in: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32000L0031
Since then, majority of the EU’s citizens have been using those services on a daily basis. However, the digital transformation and increased use of those services has also resulted in new risks and challenges for individual recipients of the relevant service, companies and society as a whole. The EU member states are increasingly introducing national laws on the digital services’ matters and imposing, in particular, diligence requirements for providers of intermediary services as regards the way they should tackle illegal content, online disinformation or other societal risks. Those diverging national laws negatively affect the EU-wide internal market (which, according to the EU basic law, i.e. art. 26, TFEU), comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment are ensured, taking into account the inherently cross-border nature of the internet, which is generally used to provide those services. The conditions for the provision of intermediary services across the internal market should be harmonised, so as to provide businesses with access to new markets and opportunities to exploit the benefits of the internal market, while allowing consumers and other recipients of the services to have increased choice. Business users, consumers and other users are considered to be the “recipients of the service”, as the Regulation asserts.
Therefore, in order to safeguard and improve the functioning of the internal market, a targeted set of uniform, effective and proportionate mandatory rules should be established at the EU’s level. This Regulation provides the conditions for innovative digital services to emerge and to scale up in the internal market. The approximation of national regulatory measures at the EU level concerning the requirements for providers of intermediary services is necessary to avoid and put an end to fragmentation of the internal market and to ensure legal certainty, thus reducing uncertainty for developers and fostering interoperability. By using requirements that are technology neutral, innovation should not be hampered but instead be stimulated.
The DSA Regulation-Nr. 2022/2065 – (“Single Market for Digital Services”), in:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2065/oj/eng
New report’s findings
This Report shows that the Digital Services Act (DSA) is, overall, highly complementary to other Union legal acts: i.e. in the majority of cases, the DSA and other Union legal acts interplay in ways that are mutually reinforcing, with provisions designed to either build on one another or apply in parallel. The findings of this Report, together with its accompanying Staff Working Document, underscore the increasing complexity of the European regulatory landscape. The Commission may identify via forthcoming evaluations and the Digital Fitness check tangible opportunities for further improvement, in line with the Commission’s better regulation and simplification agenda.
More in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/report-application-article-33-regulation-eu-20222065-dsa-and-interaction-regulation-other-legal
Among the report’s main findings there are the following conclusions:
= The report confirms that the designation criteria for very large online platforms (VLOPs) and search engines (VLOSEs), including the threshold of 45 million average monthly active recipients, remain fit-for-purpose and well-suited to the dynamic digital environment.
= The report also evaluates the interactions between the DSA and other 54 legal acts, in areas such as data protection and privacy, audiovisual, media and IP, consumer policy, product safety, and democracy, security, and justice. In its analysis, the report demonstrates how the DSA interacts with and complements other legal acts, providing a powerful baseline for sector-specific legislation due to its horizontal and fully harmonised effect.
= In the context of the ongoing digital simplification process, the report identifies selected provisions where regulatory overlaps require closer coordination to ensure a clear application of legal frameworks. This contributes to a coherent and integrated regulatory framework, ensuring legal certainty for citizens and businesses, and informs upcoming legal revisions.
= Based on Article 91(1) of the DSA, the report fulfils a legal obligation introduced by the co-legislators to assess the adequacy of the DSA’s horizontal framework and its interplay with other sector-specific legislation. It takes into account the feedback received from civil society organisations, Digital Services Coordinators, other national competent authorities, and online platforms and search engines, including VLOPs and VLOSEs, following 3 surveys launched by the Commission. The input received highlights a broad consensus of all stakeholders on the need for clearer legislation, guidance and more interinstitutional cooperation.
More in “Online platforms in the EU: Digital Service Act in action”:
https://www.integrin.dk/2024/01/09/online-platforms-in-the-eu-digital-service-act-in-action/
= The report constitutes one of the most comprehensive legal mapping exercises on EU law regarding digital platforms and online intermediated services and is a valuable tool to navigate the digital acquis. It is the first of several reports that the DSA requires by 2027, evaluating both the Regulation’s impact on the development and economic growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, and its overall effectiveness following its entry into force.
General reference to: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-evaluates-digital-services-acts-interaction-other-eu-laws-and-its-designation-threshold
Related topics in the Commission’s sites:
Online platforms and e-commerce DSA; and – Digital Services Act An agile rulebook