Ref. Ares(2020)7909005 - 23/12/2020
Meeting with European press publishers from EMMA-ENPA
Brussels, 24 February 2020
Notwithstanding, ex ante regulation of the largest platform ecosystems is indeed likely
needed as a complement. The P2B Regulation is a first example of this interplay, and
will already provide increased transparency including on the parameters used by news
aggregators to rank editorial content. Current concentration levels (70% of platform
value held by five companies) could have impacts beyond competition and innovation –
structurally skewing the playing field in favour of systemic platform ecosystems and
possibly even impacting entrepreneurial dynamism. My services are investigating as a
matter of priority whether a regulatory follow-up to the P2B Regulation is therefore
needed.
In designing possible remedies, the single market should however continue to be one
of the cornerstones, and it should be prevented that the position of the largest
platforms is reinforced. Some of the measures proposed by EMMA-ENPA, such as a
blanket access right for publishers, seem to be solution- rather than problem-driven
and risk having unforeseen negative effects. In this regard, effective oversight is a first
important step to enable tailor-made remedies for specific, systemic issues. Your
suggestion for a quantitive threshold to ring-fence the intervention is interesting.
Background
Position of EMMA-ENPA on
Online platforms
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Meeting with European press publishers from EMMA-ENPA
Brussels, 24 February 2020
Sub-topic 2: Update of the eCommerce Directive
Main messages
totally unsafe
Defensives
Will the new Digital Services Act maintain the country of origin principle of the
eCommerce Directive?
By subjecting players to only one set of national rules, the country of origin principle of
the eCommerce Directive has helped digital businesses operate, scale up, and
compete in the European Union. 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.
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 (AVMSD).
Online platforms
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Meeting with European press publishers from EMMA-ENPA
Brussels, 24 February 2020
Our services are carrying out an in depth assessment of the current state of play in
order 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.
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.
Background
Position of EMMA-ENPA on
Online platforms
4/5
Meeting with European press publishers from EMMA-ENPA
Brussels, 24 February 2020
About EMMA
EMMA is the unique and complete representation of Europe’s magazine media on various
platforms, encompassing both paper and digital formats.
EMMA represents a wide spectrum of titles published by the European magazine media
sector. They deliver expert-driven policy advice shaped by top experts of the magazine
media sector from across Europe. The EMMA Expert Groups as well as the qualitative
research conducted by EMMA form the basis of their policy work at EU level.
EMMA helps its members’ businesses succeed through their work identifying
opportunities and threats at EU-level and engaging in a constructive dialogue with EU
decision-makers. This in turn helps economic growth.
About ENPA
As the main the advocate of European newspaper publishers, ENPA has several
objectives:
to enable European newspaper publishers to speak with one voice towards the
European institutions and influence policy in publishers’ common interests;
to represent and defend the interests of the press as far as any legislative or policy
issue might have an influence on the freedom or the economic role of newspapers in
Europe;
to preserve and promote fundamental rights and in particular press freedom as a
cornerstone of democracy, as well as commercial freedom as the precondition for
economic viability;
to act as an early warning system for pending legislation or regulation, primarily from
the European Union and Council of Europe, for the newspaper publishing industry;
to provide services to members and their publishers, which are closely aligned to its
lobbying mandate such as the transmission of information on the current state of
legislative initiatives and its likely impact, and
to favour pluralism and diversity of media content.
Given the rapidly changing media and business model landscape, ENPA works on behalf
of its members and their publishers, who embrace new media opportunities in the ongoing
development of successful multimedia businesses, and who hope to receive increasing
proportions of their profit from the successful exploitation of their information and data
through non-traditional media formats.
Contact – briefing coordination:
(SG.E.1), tel.:
Contact – briefing contribution:
(
CNECT.F.2), tel.:
Online platforms
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