Ref. Ares(2020)7909005 - 23/12/2020
Videoconference with Nordic public service broadcasters
Brussels, 7 May 2020
Defensives
Will the new Digital Services Act maintain the country of origin principle of the E-
Commerce Directive?
By subjecting players to only one set of national rules, the country of origin principle of
the E-Commerce Directive has helped digital businesses operate, scale up, and
compete in the EU. At the same time, the cross-border nature of these services brings
new challenges to the practical application of the country of origin principle. Member
States are increasingly looking into regulating online platforms available in their territories.
In this mandate, the Commission has retained the country of origin principle as the
cornerstone of many of its initiatives. This is the case, for instance, for the new rules on
video-sharing platforms under the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
Our services are carrying out an in depth assessment of the current state of play to
ensure that any new regulation based on the country of origin principle remains
effective in practice. In particular, the Digital Services Act will aim at providing an
appropriate and effective system of cooperation among national regulatory authorities
of the relevant Member States when enforcing the rules.
Topics for discussion
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Videoconference with Nordic public service broadcasters
Brussels, 7 May 2020
Will platforms take more responsibility for the content they host? How will this be
enforced?
Our current thinking is to provide for a harmonised set of rules, codifying notice and
action measures, as well as responsibilities for making sure legal content is not
removed and redress is available to all users. This will provide legal certainty, while
incentivising platforms to act against illegal content they might host.
It is key to strengthen the enforcement mechanism: for this to remain effective, the
home state control needs to be reinforced with a smooth cooperation mechanism
across national authorities so that all issues are resolved consistently across the single
market, in the fastest way possible and with the smallest legal complexity and burden
on online services and authorities.
The real problems are with the Googles and Facebooks of the online world, not with
the small services. Will the Digital Services Act not favour, yet again, the large
ones?
The large platforms are – we may like it or not – public squares for imparting and
receiving information. This is indeed where the major impacts emerge, both when
illegal content is disseminated and when legal speech is blocked. There are specific
issues of scale here, which need to be carefully addressed.
We cannot have the same expectations from all players; this would be disproportionate
and prohibitive to any European player trying to scale up in the Single Market. Action is
needed in particular where most impactful. At the same time, large platforms need to
step up and assume their obligations and they should be subject to specific rules.
Proportionality of expectations and clarity of rules for each type of player will be key.
Contact – briefing contribution:
(DG CNECT F2), tel.:
Topics for discussion
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