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 10

Restrictions to offer different conditions through other means

1. Where, in the provision of their services, providers of online_intermediation_services restrict the ability of business_users to offer the same goods and services to consumers under different conditions through other means than through those services, they shall include the grounds for that restriction in their terms_and_conditions and make those grounds easily available to the public. Those grounds shall include the main economic, commercial or legal considerations for those restrictions.

2. The obligation set out in paragraph 1 shall not affect any prohibitions or limitations in respect of the imposition of such restrictions that result from the application of other acts of Union law or the law of Member States that is in accordance with Union law and to which the providers of online_intermediation_services are subject.

Article 14

Judicial proceedings by representative organisations or associations and by public bodies

1. Organisations and associations that have a legitimate interest in representing business_users or in representing corporate_website_users, as well as public bodies set up in Member States, shall have the right to take action before competent national courts in the Union, in accordance with the rules of the law of the Member State where the action is brought, to stop or prohibit any non-compliance by providers of online_intermediation_services or by providers of online_search_engines, with the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.

2. The Commission shall encourage Member States to exchange best practices and information with other Member States, based on registries of unlawful acts which have been subject to injunction orders before national courts, where such registries are set up by relevant public bodies or authorities.

3. Organisations or associations shall have the right referred to in paragraph 1 only where they meet all of the following requirements:

(a)	they are properly established in accordance with the law of a Member State;

(b)	they pursue objectives that are in the collective interest of the group of business_users or corporate_website_users that they represent on a sustained basis;

(c)	they are of a non-profit making character;

(d)	their decision-making is not unduly influenced by any third party providers of financing, in particular by providers of online_intermediation_services or of online_search_engines.

To this end, organisations or associations shall fully and publicly disclose information on their membership and source of financing.

4. In Member States where public bodies have been set up, those public bodies shall have the right referred to in paragraph 1, where they are charged with defending the collective interests of business_users or corporate_website_users or with ensuring compliance with the requirements laid down in this Regulation, in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned.

5. Member States may designate:

(a)	organisations or associations established in their Member State that meet at least the requirements of paragraph 3 at the request of those organisations or associations;

(b)	public bodies set up in their Member State that meet the requirements of paragraph 4

that are granted the right referred to in paragraph 1. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the name and purpose of any such designated organisations, associations or public bodies.

6. The Commission shall draw up a list of the organisations, associations and public bodies designated in accordance with paragraph 5. That list shall specify the purpose of those organisations, associations and public bodies. That list shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Changes to the list shall be published without delay and, in any event, an updated list shall be drawn up and published every six months.

7. The court shall accept the list referred to in paragraph 6 as proof of the legal capacity of the organisation, association or public body, without prejudice to the court’s right to examine whether the purpose of the claimant justifies its taking action in a specific case.

8. If a Member State or the Commission raises concerns regarding the compliance, by an organisation or association, with the criteria laid down in paragraph 3, or, by a public body, with the criteria laid down in paragraph 4, the Member State that designated that organisation, association or public body in accordance with paragraph 5 shall investigate the concerns and, where appropriate, revoke the designation if one or more of the criteria are not complied with.

9. The right referred to in paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to the rights of business_users and corporate_website_users to start any action before competent national courts, in accordance with the rules of the law of the Member State where the action is brought, which is based on individual rights and aims to stop any non-compliance, by providers of online_intermediation_services or providers of online_search_engines, with the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.

whereas

(8) Those rules should also provide for appropriate incentives to promote fairness and transparency, especially as regards the ranking of corporate_website_users in the search results generated by online_search_engines.
At the same time, those rules should recognise and safeguard the important innovation potential of the wider online platform economy and allow for healthy competition leading to increased consumer choice.
It is appropriate to clarify that this Regulation should 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.
Member States should remain free to apply national laws which prohibit or sanction unilateral conduct or unfair commercial practices to the extent that the relevant aspects are not covered by this Regulation.

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(21) In order to ensure that business_users can fully exploit the commercial opportunities offered by online_intermediation_services, providers of these services should not completely prevent their business_users from featuring their trading identity as part of their offering or presence on the relevant online_intermediation_services.
However, this prohibition of interference should not be understood as a right for business_users to unilaterally determine the presentation of their offering or presence on the relevant online_intermediation_services.

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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