News & positions
Protecting our consumers under the DSA: recognising right holders as trusted flaggers
Europe’s consumers face an ever-growing offer of illegal, including counterfeit, goods online. The DSA enters into force this weekend and aims to address this through a new legally-mandated trusted flagger system, replacing current voluntary schemes. The approach is simple: the party best able to identify illegal online offers flags them to platforms, who will then take rapid action and remove them. Unlike some user generated content, no complex nuance is at play – counterfeits are illegal, right holders know their own goods and therefore are the best party to flag them. Protecting consumers swiftly is in everyone’s interests.
If our consumers, and indeed creators, are to be shielded from online rogue traders, direct and immediate action is necessary. Individual right holders must be able to flag illegal offers to platforms directly, and platforms must deal with this swiftly. Operating through third parties will cause unnecessary delays and bureaucracy: illegal goods must be taken down immediately. National and European regulators need to recognise this reality and help us to keep our markets safe by ensuring that right holders are recognised for what they already are – trusted flaggers.
