On 20 October, the EU Parliament Plenary adopted the Reports on the Digital Services Act. The key focus of AIM has been the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee Report (IMCO), drafted by the Socialist Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba. The IMCO Report is the result of many months of negotiations and debates between the different political groups.
Michelle Gibbons, AIM Director General: “The DSA Reports acknowledge the main challenges restricting the full potential of the European digital and platform economy which include the rising volume of illegal goods available to consumers online through fraudulent sellers and an increased impact of unfair trading practices on the entire economy due to the concentration of platforms. Today’s Reports call on the Commission to deliver an ambitious framework that can ensure Europe leads the way in delivering a clean and fair platform ecosystem.
The EU Parliament Plenary votes should also be read as an acknowledgement of the opportunities for the platform economy and a call for the new rules to be fit for purpose. These new rules have to clearly address the shortcomings of the current voluntary or self-assessment action mechanism for platforms which have resulted in the challenges we all see today. Every player needs to do their part in order for this ecosystem to work. Platforms have the benefit of owning what have become ‘must-have’ systems, but with this must come responsibility for what is available on those systems. The DSA should help clarify this. We welcome the calls for clearer rules on what platforms have to implement in order to help reduce the volume of illegal goods and ensure unfair trading practices are prevented.”
The EU Commission is expected to present on 2 December 2020 a set of two proposals, covering the liability aspects for intermediaries and unfair trading practices.
The key AIM priorities for the DSA are:
You can find the AIM DSA Position here.