keyboard_tab Digital Service Act 2022/2065 EN

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:

1.   Upon receipt of an order to provide specific information about one or more specific individual recipients of the service, issued by the relevant national judicial or administrative authorities on the basis of the applicable Union law or national law in compliance with Union law, providers of intermediary_services shall, without undue delay inform the authority issuing the order, or any other authority specified in the order, of its receipt and of the effect given to the order, specifying if and when effect was given to the order.

2.   Member States shall ensure that when an order referred to in paragraph 1 is transmitted to the provider, it meets at least the following conditions:

3.   The authority issuing the order or, where applicable, the authority specified therein, shall transmit it, along with any information received from the provider of intermediary_services concerning the effect given to that order to the Digital Services Coordinator from the Member State of the issuing authority.

4.   After receiving the order from the judicial or administrative authority, the Digital Services Coordinator of the Member State concerned shall, without undue delay, transmit a copy of the order referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article to all Digital Services Coordinators through the system established in accordance with Article 85.

5.   At the latest when effect is given to the order, or, where applicable, at the time provided by the issuing authority in its order, providers of intermediary_services shall inform the recipient_of_the_service concerned of the order received and the effect given to it. Such information provided to the recipient_of_the_service shall include a statement of reasons and the possibilities for redress that exist, in accordance with paragraph 2.

6.   The conditions and requirements laid down in this Article shall be without prejudice to national civil and criminal procedural law.

1.   Providers of intermediary_services shall make publicly available, in a machine-readable format and in an easily accessible manner, at least once a year, clear, easily comprehensible reports on any content_moderation that they engaged in during the relevant period. Those reports shall include, in particular, information on the following, as applicable:

2.   Paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to providers of intermediary_services that qualify as micro or small enterprises as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC and which are not very large online_platforms within the meaning of Article 33 of this Regulation.

3.   The Commission may adopt implementing acts to lay down templates concerning the form, content and other details of reports pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article, including harmonised reporting periods. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 88.

1.   Where a provider of hosting services becomes aware of any information giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person or persons has taken place, is taking place or is likely to take place, it shall promptly inform the law enforcement or judicial authorities of the Member State or Member States concerned of its suspicion and provide all relevant information available.

2.   Where the provider of hosting services cannot identify with reasonable certainty the Member State concerned, it shall inform the law enforcement authorities of the Member State in which it is established or where its legal representative resides or is established or inform Europol, or both.

For the purpose of this Article, the Member State concerned shall be the Member State in which the offence is suspected to have taken place, to be taking place or to be likely to take place, or the Member State where the suspected offender resides or is located, or the Member State where the victim of the suspected offence resides or is located.

1.   Providers of online_platforms accessible to minors shall put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security of minors, on their service.

2.   Providers of online_platform shall not present advertisements on their interface based on profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 using personal data of the recipient_of_the_service when they are aware with reasonable certainty that the recipient_of_the_service is a minor.

3.   Compliance with the obligations set out in this Article shall not oblige providers of online_platforms to process additional personal data in order to assess whether the recipient_of_the_service is a minor.

4.   The Commission, after consulting the Board, may issue guidelines to assist providers of online_platforms in the application of paragraph 1.

1.   Providers of online_platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance_contracts with traders shall ensure that its online_interface is designed and organised in a way that enables traders to comply with their obligations regarding pre-contractual information, compliance and product safety information under applicable Union law.

In particular, the provider concerned shall ensure that its online_interface enables traders to provide information on the name, address, telephone number and email address of the economic operator, as defined in Article 3, point (13), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and other Union law.

2.   Providers of online_platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance_contracts with traders shall ensure that its online_interface is designed and organised in a way that it allows traders to provide at least the following:

3.   Providers of online_platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance_contracts with traders shall make best efforts to assess whether such traders have provided the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 prior to allowing them to offer their products or services on those platforms. After allowing the trader to offer products or services on its online_platform that allows consumers to conclude distance_contracts with traders, the provider shall make reasonable efforts to randomly check in any official, freely accessible and machine-readable online database or online_interface whether the products or services offered have been identified as illegal.

1.   The Board may recommend that the Commission initiate the drawing up, in accordance with paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, of voluntary crisis protocols for addressing crisis situations. Those situations shall be strictly limited to extraordinary circumstances affecting public security or public health.

2.   The Commission shall encourage and facilitate the providers of very large online_platforms, of very large online_search_engines and, where appropriate, the providers of other online_platforms or of other online_search_engines, to participate in the drawing up, testing and application of those crisis protocols. The Commission shall aim to ensure that those crisis protocols include one or more of the following measures:

3.   The Commission shall, as appropriate, involve Member States’ authorities, and may also involve Union bodies, offices and agencies in drawing up, testing and supervising the application of the crisis protocols. The Commission may, where necessary and appropriate, also involve civil society organisations or other relevant organisations in drawing up the crisis protocols.

4.   The Commission shall aim to ensure that the crisis protocols set out clearly all of the following:

5.   If the Commission considers that a crisis protocol fails to effectively address the crisis situation, or to safeguard the exercise of fundamental rights as referred to in paragraph 4, point (e), it shall request the participants to revise the crisis protocol, including by taking additional measures.

1.   Where needed in order to carry out their tasks under this Regulation, Digital Services Coordinators shall have the following powers of investigation, in respect of conduct by providers of intermediary_services falling within the competence of their Member State:

2.   Where needed for carrying out their tasks under this Regulation, Digital Services Coordinators shall have the following enforcement powers, in respect of providers of intermediary_services falling within the competence of their Member State:

As regards the first subparagraph, points (c) and (d), Digital Services Coordinators shall also have the enforcement powers set out in those points in respect of the other persons referred to in paragraph 1 for failure to comply with any of the orders issued to them pursuant to that paragraph. They shall only exercise those enforcement powers after providing those other persons in good time with all relevant information relating to such orders, including the applicable period, the fines or periodic payments that may be imposed for failure to comply and the possibilities for redress.

3.   Where needed for carrying out their tasks under this Regulation, Digital Services Coordinators shall, in respect of providers of intermediary_services falling within the competence of their Member State, where all other powers pursuant to this Article to bring about the cessation of an infringement have been exhausted and the infringement has not been remedied or is continuing and is causing serious harm which cannot be avoided through the exercise of other powers available under Union or national law, also have the power to take the following measures:

The Digital Services Coordinator shall, except where it acts upon the Commission’s request referred to in Article 82, prior to submitting the request referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), of this paragraph invite interested parties to submit written observations within a period that shall not be less than two weeks, describing the measures that it intends to request and identifying the intended addressee or addressees thereof. The provider of intermediary_services, the intended addressee or addressees and any other third party demonstrating a legitimate interest shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings before the competent judicial authority. Any measure ordered shall be proportionate to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement, without unduly restricting access to lawful information by recipients of the service concerned.

The restriction of access shall be for a period of four weeks, subject to the possibility for the competent judicial authority, in its order, to allow the Digital Services Coordinator to extend that period for further periods of the same lengths, subject to a maximum number of extensions set by that judicial authority. The Digital Services Coordinator shall only extend the period where, having regard to the rights and interests of all parties affected by that restriction and all relevant circumstances, including any information that the provider of intermediary_services, the addressee or addressees and any other third party that demonstrated a legitimate interest may provide to it, it considers that both of the following conditions have been met:

Where the Digital Services Coordinator considers that the conditions set out in the third subparagraph, points (a) and (b), have been met but it cannot further extend the period pursuant to the third subparagraph, it shall submit a new request to the competent judicial authority, as referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b).

4.   The powers listed in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be without prejudice to Section 3.

5.   The measures taken by the Digital Services Coordinators in the exercise of their powers listed in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be effective, dissuasive and proportionate, having regard, in particular, to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement or suspected infringement to which those measures relate, as well as the economic, technical and operational capacity of the provider of the intermediary_services concerned where relevant.

6.   Member States shall lay down specific rules and procedures for the exercise of the powers pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 and shall ensure that any exercise of those powers is subject to adequate safeguards laid down in the applicable national law in compliance with the Charter and with the general principles of Union law. In particular, those measures shall only be taken in accordance with the right to respect for private life and the rights of defence, including the rights to be heard and of access to the file, and subject to the right to an effective judicial remedy of all affected parties.

1.   The Member State in which the main establishment of the provider of intermediary_services is located shall have exclusive powers to supervise and enforce this Regulation, except for the powers provided for in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.

2.   The Commission shall have exclusive powers to supervise and enforce Section 5 of Chapter III.

3.   The Commission shall have powers to supervise and enforce this Regulation, other than those laid down in Section 5 of Chapter III thereof, against providers of very large online_platforms and of very large online_search_engines.

4.   Where the Commission has not initiated proceedings for the same infringement, the Member State in which the main establishment of the provider of very large online_platform or of very large online_search_engine is located shall have powers to supervise and enforce the obligations under this Regulation, other than those laid down in Section 5 of Chapter III, with respect to those providers.

5.   Member States and the Commission shall supervise and enforce the provisions of this Regulation in close cooperation.

6.   Where a provider of intermediary_services does not have an establishment in the Union, the Member State where its legal representative resides or is established or the Commission shall have powers, as applicable, in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 4 of this Article, to supervise and enforce the relevant obligations under this Regulation.

7.   Where a provider of intermediary_services fails to appoint a legal representative in accordance with Article 13, all Member States and, in case of a provider of a very large online_platform or very large online_search_engine, the Commission shall have powers to supervise and enforce in accordance with this Article.

Where a Digital Services Coordinator intends to exercise its powers under this paragraph, it shall notify all other Digital Services Coordinators and the Commission, and ensure that the applicable safeguards afforded by the Charter are respected, in particular to avoid that the same conduct is sanctioned more than once for the infringement of the obligations laid down in this Regulation. Where the Commission intends to exercise its powers under this paragraph, it shall notify all other Digital Services Coordinators of that intention. Following the notification pursuant to this paragraph, other Member States shall not initiate proceedings for the same infringement as that referred to in the notification.

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.