keyboard_tab Digital Service Act 2022/2065 EN
BG CS DA DE EL EN ES ET FI FR GA HR HU IT LV LT MT NL PL PT RO SK SL SV print pdf
- 3 Art. 2 Scope
- 1 Art. 37 Independent audit
- 2 Art. 49 Competent authorities and Digital Services Coordinators
- 2 Art. 61 European Board for Digital Services
- 2 Art. 63 Tasks of the Board
- 1 Art. 64 Development of expertise and capabilities
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER II
LIABILITY OF PROVIDERS OF INTERMEDIARY SERVICES
CHAPTER III
DUE DILIGENCE OBLIGATIONS FOR A TRANSPARENT AND SAFE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
SECTION 1
Provisions applicable to all providers of intermediary services
SECTION 2
Additional provisions applicable to providers of hosting services, including online platforms
SECTION 3
Additional provisions applicable to providers of online platforms
SECTION 4
Additional provisions applicable to providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders
SECTION 5
Additional obligations for providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines to manage systemic risks
SECTION 6
Other provisions concerning due diligence obligations
CHAPTER IV
IMPLEMENTATION, COOPERATION, PENALTIES AND ENFORCEMENT
SECTION 1
Competent authorities and national Digital Services Coordinators
SECTION 2
Competences, coordinated investigation and consistency mechanisms
SECTION 3
European Board for Digital Services
SECTION 4
Supervision, investigation, enforcement and monitoring in respect of providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines
SECTION 5
Common provisions on enforcement
SECTION 6
Delegated and implementing acts
CHAPTER V
FINAL PROVISIONS
- information society service
- recipient of the service
- consumer
- to offer services in the Union
- substantial connection to the Union
- trader
- intermediary service
- mere conduit
- caching
- hosting
- illegal content
- online platform
- online search engine
- dissemination to the public
- distance contract
- online interface
- Digital Services Coordinator of establishment
- Digital Services Coordinator of destination
- active recipient of an online platform
- active recipient of an online search engine
- advertisement
- recommender system
- content moderation
- terms and conditions
- persons with disabilities
- commercial communication
- turnover
- Mere conduit
- Caching
- council 46
- european 43
- parliament 38
- shall 38
- oj l 36
- regulation 34
- services 34
- very 29
- large 29
- digital 24
- audit 24
- //ec 19
- directive 19
- directive 18
- authorities 15
- coordinators 15
- union 15
- no / 14
- commission 13
- regulation 13
- competent 13
- matters 12
- article 11
- online_platforms 11
- audits 11
- cooperation 11
- online_search_engines 10
- particular 10
- protection 10
- have 10
- board 10
- pursuant 10
- enforcement 9
- amending 9
- data 9
- repealing 9
- provider 8
- electronic 8
- rules 8
- report 8
- legal 7
- providers 7
- information 7
- referred 7
- including 7
- //jha 7
- consumer 7
- coordinator 7
- down 7
- april 7
Article 2
Scope
1. This Regulation shall apply to intermediary_services offered to recipients of the service that have their place of establishment or are located in the Union, irrespective of where the providers of those intermediary_services have their place of establishment.
2. This Regulation shall not apply to any service that is not an intermediary_service or to any requirements imposed in respect of such a service, irrespective of whether the service is provided through the use of an intermediary_service.
3. This Regulation shall not affect the application of Directive 2000/31/EC.
4. This Regulation is without prejudice to the rules laid down by other Union legal acts regulating other aspects of the provision of intermediary_services in the internal market or specifying and complementing this Regulation, in particular, the following:
| (a) | Directive 2010/13/EU; |
| (b) | Union law on copyright and related rights; |
| (c) | Regulation (EU) 2021/784; |
| (d) | Regulation (EU) 2019/1148; |
| (e) | Regulation (EU) 2019/1150; |
| (f) | Union law on consumer protection and product safety, including Regulations (EU) 2017/2394 and (EU) 2019/1020 and Directives 2001/95/EC and 2013/11/EU; |
| (g) | Union law on the protection of personal data, in particular Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Directive 2002/58/EC; |
| (h) | Union law in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters, in particular Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 or any Union legal act laying down the rules on law applicable to contractual and non-contractual obligations; |
| (i) | Union law in the field of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, in particular a Regulation on European Production and Preservation Orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters; |
| (j) | a Directive laying down harmonised rules on the appointment of legal representatives for the purpose of gathering evidence in criminal proceedings. |
Article 37
Independent audit
1. Providers of very large online_platforms and of very large online_search_engines shall be subject, at their own expense and at least once a year, to independent audits to assess compliance with the following:
| (a) | the obligations set out in Chapter III; |
| (b) | any commitments undertaken pursuant to the codes of conduct referred to in Articles 45 and 46 and the crisis protocols referred to in Article 48. |
2. Providers of very large online_platforms and of very large online_search_engines shall afford the organisations carrying out the audits pursuant to this Article the cooperation and assistance necessary to enable them to conduct those audits in an effective, efficient and timely manner, including by giving them access to all relevant data and premises and by answering oral or written questions. They shall refrain from hampering, unduly influencing or undermining the performance of the audit.
Such audits shall ensure an adequate level of confidentiality and professional secrecy in respect of the information obtained from the providers of very large online_platforms and of very large online_search_engines and third parties in the context of the audits, including after the termination of the audits. However, complying with that requirement shall not adversely affect the performance of the audits and other provisions of this Regulation, in particular those on transparency, supervision and enforcement. Where necessary for the purpose of the transparency reporting pursuant to Article 42(4), the audit report and the audit implementation report referred to in paragraphs 4 and 6 of this Article shall be accompanied with versions that do not contain any information that could reasonably be considered to be confidential.
3. Audits performed pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be performed by organisations which:
| (a) | are independent from, and do not have any conflicts of interest with, the provider of very large online_platforms or of very large online_search_engines concerned and any legal person connected to that provider; in particular:
|
| (b) | have proven expertise in the area of risk management, technical competence and capabilities; |
| (c) | have proven objectivity and professional ethics, based in particular on adherence to codes of practice or appropriate standards. |
4. Providers of very large online_platforms and of very large online_search_engines shall ensure that the organisations that perform the audits establish an audit report for each audit. That report shall be substantiated, in writing, and shall include at least the following:
| (a) | the name, address and the point of contact of the provider of the very large online_platform or of the very large online_search_engine subject to the audit and the period covered; |
| (b) | the name and address of the organisation or organisations performing the audit; |
| (c) | a declaration of interests; |
| (d) | a description of the specific elements audited, and the methodology applied; |
| (e) | a description and a summary of the main findings drawn from the audit; |
| (f) | a list of the third parties consulted as part of the audit; |
| (g) | an audit opinion on whether the provider of the very large online_platform or of the very large online_search_engine subject to the audit complied with the obligations and with the commitments referred to in paragraph 1, namely ‘positive’, ‘positive with comments’ or ‘negative’; |
| (h) | where the audit opinion is not ‘positive’, operational recommendations on specific measures to achieve compliance and the recommended timeframe to achieve compliance. |
5. Where the organisation performing the audit was unable to audit certain specific elements or to express an audit opinion based on its investigations, the audit report shall include an explanation of the circumstances and the reasons why those elements could not be audited.
6. Providers of very large online_platforms or of very large online_search_engines receiving an audit report that is not ‘positive’ shall take due account of the operational recommendations addressed to them with a view to take the necessary measures to implement them. They shall, within one month from receiving those recommendations, adopt an audit implementation report setting out those measures. Where they do not implement the operational recommendations, they shall justify in the audit implementation report the reasons for not doing so and set out any alternative measures that they have taken to address any instances of non-compliance identified.
7. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 87 to supplement this Regulation by laying down the necessary rules for the performance of the audits pursuant to this Article, in particular as regards the necessary rules on the procedural steps, auditing methodologies and reporting templates for the audits performed pursuant to this Article. Those delegated acts shall take into account any voluntary auditing standards referred to in Article 44(1), point (e).
Article 49
Competent authorities and Digital Services Coordinators
1. Member States shall designate one or more competent authorities to be responsible for the supervision of providers of intermediary_services and enforcement of this Regulation (‘competent authorities’).
2. Member States shall designate one of the competent authorities as their Digital Services Coordinator. The Digital Services Coordinator shall be responsible for all matters relating to supervision and enforcement of this Regulation in that Member State, unless the Member State concerned has assigned certain specific tasks or sectors to other competent authorities. The Digital Services Coordinator shall in any event be responsible for ensuring coordination at national level in respect of those matters and for contributing to the effective and consistent supervision and enforcement of this Regulation throughout the Union.
For that purpose, Digital Services Coordinators shall cooperate with each other, other national competent authorities, the Board and the Commission, without prejudice to the possibility for Member States to provide for cooperation mechanisms and regular exchanges of views between the Digital Services Coordinator and other national authorities where relevant for the performance of their respective tasks.
Where a Member State designates one or more competent authorities in addition to the Digital Services Coordinator, it shall ensure that the respective tasks of those authorities and of the Digital Services Coordinator are clearly defined and that they cooperate closely and effectively when performing their tasks.
3. Member States shall designate the Digital Services Coordinators by 17 February 2024.
Member States shall make publicly available, and communicate to the Commission and the Board, the name of their competent authority designated as Digital Services Coordinator and information on how it can be contacted. The Member State concerned shall communicate to the Commission and the Board the name of the other competent authorities referred to in paragraph 2, as well as their respective tasks.
4. The provisions applicable to Digital Services Coordinators set out in Articles 50, 51 and 56 shall also apply to any other competent authorities that the Member States designate pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article.
Article 61
European Board for Digital Services
1. An independent advisory group of Digital Services Coordinators on the supervision of providers of intermediary_services named ‘European Board for Digital Services’ (the ‘Board’) is established.
2. The Board shall advise the Digital Services Coordinators and the Commission in accordance with this Regulation to achieve the following objectives:
| (a) | contributing to the consistent application of this Regulation and effective cooperation of the Digital Services Coordinators and the Commission with regard to matters covered by this Regulation; |
| (b) | coordinating and contributing to guidelines and analysis of the Commission and Digital Services Coordinators and other competent authorities on emerging issues across the internal market with regard to matters covered by this Regulation; |
| (c) | assisting the Digital Services Coordinators and the Commission in the supervision of very large online_platforms. |
Article 63
Tasks of the Board
1. Where necessary to meet the objectives set out in Article 61(2), the Board shall in particular:
| (a) | support the coordination of joint investigations; |
| (b) | support the competent authorities in the analysis of reports and results of audits of very large online_platforms or of very large online_search_engines to be transmitted pursuant to this Regulation; |
| (c) | issue opinions, recommendations or advice to Digital Services Coordinators in accordance with this Regulation, taking into account, in particular, the freedom to provide services of the providers of intermediary_service; |
| (d) | advise the Commission on the measures referred to in Article 66 and, adopt opinions concerning very large online_platforms or very large online_search_engines in accordance with this Regulation; |
| (e) | support and promote the development and implementation of European standards, guidelines, reports, templates and code of conducts in cooperation with relevant stakeholders as provided for in this Regulation, including by issuing opinions or recommendations on matters related to Article 44, as well as the identification of emerging issues, with regard to matters covered by this Regulation. |
2. Digital Services Coordinators and, where applicable, other competent authorities that do not follow the opinions, requests or recommendations addressed to them adopted by the Board shall provide the reasons for this choice, including an explanation on the investigations, actions and the measures that they have implemented, when reporting pursuant to this Regulation or when adopting their relevant decisions, as appropriate.
SECTION 4
Supervision, investigation, enforcement and monitoring in respect of providers of very large online_platforms and of very large online_search_engines
Article 64
Development of expertise and capabilities
1. The Commission, in cooperation with the Digital Services Coordinators and the Board, shall develop Union expertise and capabilities, including, where appropriate, through the secondment of Member States’ personnel.
2. In addition, the Commission, in cooperation with the Digital Services Coordinators and the Board, shall coordinate the assessment of systemic and emerging issues across the Union in relation to very large online_platforms or very large online_search_engines with regard to matters covered by this Regulation.
3. The Commission may ask the Digital Services Coordinators, the Board and other Union bodies, offices and agencies with relevant expertise to support the assessment of systemic and emerging issues across the Union under this Regulation.
4. Member States shall cooperate with the Commission, in particular through their respective Digital Services Coordinators and other competent authorities, where applicable, including by making available their expertise and capabilities.
Article 93
Entry into force and application
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
2. This Regulation shall apply from 17 February 2024.
However, Article 24(2), (3) and (6), Article 33(3) to (6), Article 37(7), Article 40(13), Article 43 and Sections 4, 5 and 6 of Chapter IV shall apply from 16 November 2022.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Strasbourg, 19 October 2022.
For the European Parliament
The President
R. METSOLA
For the Council
The President
M. BEK
(1) OJ C 286, 16.7.2021, p. 70.
(2) OJ C 440, 29.10.2021, p. 67.
(3) Position of the European Parliament of 5 July 2022 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 4 October 2022.
(4) Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information_society_services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market ('Directive on electronic commerce') (OJ L 178, 17.7.2000, p. 1).
(5) Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17.9.2015, p. 1).
(6) Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ L 351, 20.12.2012, p. 1).
(7) Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive) (OJ L 95, 15.4.2010, p. 1).
(8) Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the marketing and use of explosives precursors, amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 98/2013 (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 1).
(9) Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 57).
(10) Regulation (EU) 2021/784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on addressing the dissemination of the terrorist content online (OJ L 172, 17.5.2021, p. 79).
(11) Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 July 2021 on temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC as regards the use of technologies by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services for the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuse (OJ L 274, 30.7.2021, p. 41).
(12) Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37).
(13) Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 (OJ L 345, 27.12.2017, p. 1).
(14) Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on market surveillance and compliance of products and amending Directive 2004/42/EC and Regulations (EC) No 765/2008 and (EU) No 305/2011 (OJ L 169, 25.6.2019, p. 1).
(15) Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety (OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4).
(16) Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to- consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22).
(17) Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 64).
(18) Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC (OJ L 165, 18.6.2013, p. 63).
(19) Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts (OJ L 95, 21.4.1993, p. 29).
(20) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).
(21) Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10).
(22) Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (OJ L 157, 30.4.2004, p. 45).
(23) Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC (OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, p. 92).
(24) Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36).
(25) Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 36).
(26) Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (OJ L 335, 17.12.2011, p. 1).
(27) Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA (OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p. 1).
(28) Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA (OJ L 88, 31.3.2017, p. 6).
(29) Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA (OJ L 135, 24.5.2016, p. 53).
(30) Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of 22 March 2021 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (OJ L 104, 25.3.2021, p. 1).
(31) Directive 98/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of products offered to consumers (OJ L 80, 18.3.1998, p. 27).
(32) Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (OJ L 157, 15.6.2016, p. 1).
(33) Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers and repealing Directive 2009/22/EC (OJ L 409, 4.12.2020, p. 1).
(34) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).
(35) OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.
(36) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).
(37) OJ C 149, 27.4.2021, p. 3.
(38) Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 70).
(39) Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1).
(40) Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73).
(41) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1).