REGIS - Reg. Intermediation Services 2019/1150 EN

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

(26) Similarly, the ranking of websites by the providers of online_search_engines, notably of those websites through which undertakings offer goods and services to consumers, has an important impact on consumer choice and the commercial success of corporate_website_users.
Providers of online_search_engines should therefore provide a description of the main parameters determining the ranking of all indexed websites and the relative importance of those main parameters as opposed to other parameters, including those of corporate_website_users as well as other websites.
In addition to the characteristics of the goods and services and their relevance for consumers, this description should in the case of online_search_engines also allow corporate_website_users to obtain an adequate understanding of whether, and if so how and to what extent, certain design characteristics of the website used, such as their optimisation for display on mobile telecommunications devices, is taken into account.
It should also include an explanation of any possibility for corporate_website_users to actively influence ranking against remuneration, as well as an explanation of the relative effects thereof.
In the absence of a contractual relationship between providers of online_search_engines and corporate_website_users, that description should be available to the public in an obvious and easily accessible location on the relevant online_search_engine.
Areas of websites that require users to log in or register should not be understood as easily and publicly available in this sense.

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(29) Ancillary goods and services should be understood as goods and services offered to the consumer immediately prior to the completion of a transaction initiated on online_intermediation_services to complement the primary good or service being offered by the business_user.
Ancillary goods and services refer to products that typically depend on, and are directly related to, the primary good or service in order to function.
Therefore, the term should exclude goods and services that are merely being sold in addition to the primary good or service in question rather than being complementary in their nature.
Examples of ancillary services include repair services for a specific good or financial products such as car rental insurance offered so as to complement the specific goods or services being offered by the business_user.
Likewise, ancillary goods might include goods that complement the specific product being offered by the business_user by constituting an upgrade or a customisation tool linked to that specific product.
Providers of online_intermediation_services offering goods or services to consumers that are ancillary to a good or service sold by a business_user, using their online_intermediation_services, should set out in their terms_and_conditions a description of the type of ancillary_goods_and_services being offered.
Such a description should be available in the terms_and_conditions regardless of whether the ancillary good or service is being provided by the provider of online_intermediation_services itself or by a third party.
Such a description should be comprehensive enough to allow a business_user to understand whether any good or service is being sold as ancillary to the business_user’s good or service.
The description should not necessarily include the specific good or service, but rather the type of product being offered as complementary to the primary product of the business_user.
Furthermore, this description should in all circumstances include whether and under what conditions a business_user is allowed to offer its own ancillary good or service in addition to the primary good or service that it is offering through the online_intermediation_services.

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(51) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to ensure a fair, predictable, sustainable and trusted online business environment within the internal market, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union.
In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

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keyboard_tab REGIS - Reg. Intermediation Services 2019/1150 EN

REGIS - Reg. Intermediation Services 2019/1150 EN