REGIS - Reg. Intermediation Services 2019/1150 EN

1. The purpose of this Regulation is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market by laying down rules to ensure that business_users of online_intermediation_services and corporate_website_users in relation to online_search_engines are granted appropriate transparency, fairness and effective redress possibilities.

2. This Regulation shall apply to online_intermediation_services and online_search_engines provided, or offered to be provided, to business_users and corporate_website_users, respectively, that have their place of establishment or residence in the Union and that, through those online_intermediation_services or online_search_engines, offer goods or services to consumers located in the Union, irrespective of the place of establishment or residence of the providers of those services and irrespective of the law otherwise applicable.

3. This Regulation shall not apply to online payment services or to online advertising tools or online advertising exchanges, which are not provided with the aim of the facilitating the initiation of direct transactions and which do not involve a contractual relationship with consumers.

4. This Regulation shall be without prejudice to national rules which, in conformity with Union law, prohibit or sanction unilateral conduct or unfair commercial practices, to the extent that the relevant aspects are not covered by this Regulation. This Regulation shall not affect national civil law, in particular contract law, such as the rules on the validity, formation, effects or termination of a contract, in so far as the national civil law rules are in conformity with Union law, and to the extent that the relevant aspects are not covered by this Regulation.

5. This Regulation shall be without prejudice to Union law, in particular Union law applicable in the areas of judicial cooperation in civil matters, competition, data protection, trade secrets protection, consumer protection, electronic commerce and financial services.

Article 5

Ranking

1. Providers of online_intermediation_services shall set out in their terms_and_conditions the main parameters determining ranking and the reasons for the relative importance of those main parameters as opposed to other parameters.

2. Providers of online_search_engines shall set out the main parameters, which individually or collectively are most significant in determining ranking and the relative importance of those main parameters, by providing an easily and publicly available description, drafted in plain and intelligible language, on the online_search_engines of those providers. They shall keep that description up to date.

3. Where the main parameters include the possibility to influence ranking against any direct or indirect remuneration paid by business_users or corporate_website_users to the respective provider, that provider shall also set out a description of those possibilities and of the effects of such remuneration on ranking in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 2.

4. Where a provider of an online_search_engine has altered the ranking order in a specific case or delisted a particular website following a third party notification, the provider shall offer the possibility for the corporate_website_user to inspect the contents of the notification.

5. The descriptions referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be sufficient to enable the business_users or corporate_website_users to obtain an adequate understanding of whether, and if so how and to what extent, the ranking mechanism takes account of the following:

(a)	the characteristics of the goods and services offered to consumers through the online_intermediation_services or the online_search_engine;

(b)	the relevance of those characteristics for those consumers;

(c)	as regards online_search_engines, the design characteristics of the website used by corporate_website_users.

6. Providers of online_intermediation_services and providers of online_search_engines shall, when complying with the requirements of this Article, not be required to disclose algorithms or any information that, with reasonable certainty, would result in the enabling of deception of consumers or consumer harm through the manipulation of search results. This Article shall be without prejudice to Directive (EU) 2016/943.

7. To facilitate the compliance of providers of online_intermediation_services and providers of online_search_engines with and the enforcement of the requirements of this Article, the Commission shall accompany the transparency requirements set out in this Article with guidelines.

Article 9

Access to data

1. Providers of online_intermediation_services shall include in their terms_and_conditions a description of the technical and contractual access, or absence thereof, of business_users to any personal data or other data, or both, which business_users or consumers provide for the use of the online_intermediation_services concerned or which are generated through the provision of those services.

2. Through the description referred to in paragraph 1, providers of online_intermediation_services shall adequately inform business_users in particular of the following:

(a)

whether the provider of online_intermediation_services has access to personal data or other data, or both, which business_users or consumers provide for the use of those services or which are generated through the provision of those services, and if so, to which categories of such data and under what conditions;

(b)

whether a business_user has access to personal data or other data, or both, provided by that business_user in connection to the business_user’s use of the online_intermediation_services concerned or generated through the provision of those services to that business_user and the consumers of the business_user’s goods or services, and if so, to which categories of such data and under what conditions;

(c)

in addition to point (b), whether a business_user has access to personal data or other data, or both, including in aggregated form, provided by or generated through the provision of the online_intermediation_services to all of the business_users and consumers thereof, and if so, to which categories of such data and under what conditions; and

(d)

whether any data under point (a) is provided to third parties, along with, where the provision of such data to third parties is not necessary for the proper functioning of the online_intermediation_services, information specifying the purpose of such data sharing, as well as possibilities for business_users to opt out from that data sharing.

3. This Article shall be without prejudice to the application of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Directive (EU) 2016/680 and Directive 2002/58/EC.

whereas

(5) The nature of the relationship between providers of online_intermediation_services and business_users might also lead to situations in which business_users often have limited possibilities to seek redress where unilateral actions of the providers of those services lead to a dispute.
In many cases, those providers do not offer accessible and effective internal complaint-handling systems.
Existing alternative out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms can also be ineffective for a variety of reasons, including a lack of specialised mediators and business_users’ fear of retaliation.

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(7) A targeted set of mandatory rules should be established at Union level to ensure a fair, predictable, sustainable and trusted online business environment within the internal market.
In particular, business_users of online_intermediation_services should be afforded appropriate transparency, as well as effective redress possibilities, throughout the Union in order to facilitate cross-border business within the Union and thereby improve the proper functioning of the internal market and to address possible emerging fragmentation in the specific areas covered by this Regulation.

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(34) In the same vein, it is important for business_users to understand whether the provider shares with third parties any data which has been generated through the use of the intermediation service by the business_user.
Business users should in particular be made aware of any sharing of data with third parties that occurs for purposes which are not necessary for the proper functioning of the online_intermediation_services; for example where the provider monetises data under commercial considerations.
To allow business_users to fully exercise available rights to influence such data sharing, providers of online_intermediation_services should also be explicit about possibilities to opt out from the data sharing where they exist under their contractual relationship with the business_user.

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(37) In order to enable business_users, including those whose use of the relevant online_intermediation_services might have been restricted, suspended or terminated, to have access to immediate, suitable and effective possibilities of redress, providers of online_intermediation_services should provide for an internal complaint-handling system.
That internal complaint-handling system should be based on principles of transparency and equal treatment applied to equivalent situations, aimed at ensuring that a significant proportion of complaints can be solved bilaterally by the provider of online_intermediation_services and the relevant business_user in a reasonable period of time.
The providers of online_intermediation_services might maintain in force during the duration of the complaint the decision that they have taken.
Any attempt to reach an agreement through the internal complaint handling-process does not affect the rights of providers of online_intermediation_services or business_users to initiate judicial proceedings at any time during or after the internal complaint-handling process.
In addition, providers of online_intermediation_services should publish and, at least annually, verify information on the functioning and effectiveness of their internal complaint-handling system to help business_users to understand the main types of issues that can arise in the context of the provision of different online_intermediation_services and the possibility of reaching a quick and effective bilateral resolution.

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(44) Various factors, such as limited financial means, a fear of retaliation and exclusive choice of law and forum provisions in terms_and_conditions, can limit the effectiveness of existing judicial redress possibilities, particularly those which require business_users or corporate_website_users to act individually and identifiably.
To ensure the effective application of this Regulation, organisations, associations representing business_users or corporate_website_users, as well as certain public bodies set up in Member States, should be granted the possibility to take action before national courts in accordance with national law, including national procedural requirements.
Such action before national courts should aim to stop or prohibit infringements of the rules set out in this Regulation and to prevent future damage that could undermine sustainable business relationships in the online platform economy.
In order to ensure that such organisations or associations exercise that right effectively and in an appropriate manner, they should meet certain criteria.
In particular, they must be properly established according to the law of a Member State, be of a non-profit making character and pursue their objectives on a sustained basis.
Those requirements should prevent any ad hoc establishment of organisations or associations for the purpose of a specific action or specific actions, or for the sake of making profits.
Furthermore, it should be ensured that there is no undue influence by any third party providers of financing on decision-making by those organisations or associations.

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keyboard_tab REGIS - Reg. Intermediation Services 2019/1150 EN

REGIS - Reg. Intermediation Services 2019/1150 EN