Online platforms: MEPs outline their priorities for the future Digital Services Act
The first draft recommendations to the EU Commission on how digital services, including online platforms, should be regulated will be discussed today in the Internal Market Committee.
Ahead of the presentation of his draft report in Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, today at around 15.20, rapporteur Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, MT) said:
“The current lockdown of European countries confirmed the importance of having highly efficient digital services and online platforms to keep countries, their societies, and economies, running at a basic level. The digital sector is part of the solution at the moment, and without it, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis would have been much worse.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has also exposed serious shortcomings in the way platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon are regulated in Europe. The system has cracked, exposing the vulnerability of European consumers and users to illegal practices online, such as selling of fake or illegal products or imposing abusive price increases on essential items.
Problems related to illegal practices and unsafe products online concern not only scams related to the COVID-19 crisis but also many other areas such as toys, textiles, cosmetics and electric appliances which flow into the EU internal market putting consumer safety in jeopardy.
The upcoming Digital Services Act must prioritize enhanced consumer protection and transparency requirements on digital platforms. We should use this opportunity to champion digital technologies and services in compliance with a set of ethical principles that reflect European values and protect European consumers, users and businesses”.
Live streaming
The debate in the committee will be web-streamed here (Parliament’s Multimedia Centre).
Key demands
The future Digital Services Act (DSA) should contribute to the strengthening of the internal market by ensuring the free movement of digital services, while at the same time guaranteeing a high level of consumer protection, including the improvement of users’ safety online.
The rapporteur considers that the main principles of the current E-Commerce Directive, such as the internal market clause, freedom of establishment and the prohibition on imposing a general monitoring obligation, should be maintained.
The principle of “what is illegal offline is also illegal online”, as well as the principles of consumer protection and user safety, should also become guiding principles of the future regulatory framework, stresses Mr Saliba.
The DSA package should include a comprehensive revision of EU e-commerce rules, consisting of:
- a revised framework with clear due diligence transparency and information obligations;
- clear and detailed procedures and measures related to the removal of illegal content online, including a harmonised legally-binding European “notice-and action” mechanism;
- effective supervision, cooperation and sanctions;
- an internal market legal instrument imposing ex-ante obligations on large platforms with a gatekeeper role in the digital ecosystem, complemented by an effective institutional enforcement mechanism.
“The Digital Services Act provides an opportunity for the Union to shape the central aspects of the digital economy not only at Union level but also be a standard-setter for the rest of the world”, says the draft report.
Contacts:
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Isabel Teixeira NADKARNI
Press Officer