techUK responds to Commission plans for the Digital Single Market

26 May 2016 12:23 PM

Future for the DSM must stay focused on European competitiveness.

Yesterday, the European Commission published its next wave of Digital Single Market packages, including on platforms, e-commerce, and audio-visual services.

It is important that the ambitions of the Digital Single Market are focussed on easy access to the European market to help emerging UK companies access great ideas and great people to help them grow and compete globally.

Commenting on yesterday’s proposals, Charlotte Holloway, Associate Director of Policy at techUK, commented

“Ambition for the Digital Single Market must remain focused on growth, innovation and Europe’s global competitiveness. Europe’s digital economy needs policies that are focused on achieving these objectives, backed by clear evidence which are precise about the problems they are aiming to solve. The Commission has rightly acknowledged that online platforms take many forms and that new sweeping regulation would have been detrimental to some of the most productive activity in the European digital economy. However, questions will remain for industry when it comes to online liability, free flow of data, geo-blocking and cultural quotas.

“To take full advantage of the next wave of the digital revolution, UK tech companies need an optimistic and ambitious policy agenda for an open, flexible and dynamic Digital Single Market focused on core objectives of job creation and growth.”

Ecommerce Package

• The Commission has expanded the principle of non-discrimination to eCommerce to address the issue of geo-blocking
• The proposal notes that “non-economic services of general interest, transport services, audio-visual services, gambling activities, healthcare services and certain social services are excluded from the scope of this Regulation”
• However, the Commission will not require companies to deliver across the EU and will exempt small businesses that fall under national VAT thresholds
• The proposed revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation will give more powers to national authorities to check if websites geo-block consumers or offer after-sales conditions not respecting EU rules (e.g. withdrawal rights); order the immediate take-down of websites hosting scams; request information from domain registrars and banks to detect the identity of the responsible trader
• In case of EU-wide breaches of consumer rights, the Commission will be able to intervene to stop these practices
• The Commission has published updated guidance to clarify the application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

Links:

• Communication on a comprehensive approach to stimulating cross-border e-commerce for Europe’s citizens and businesses
• Proposal for a regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services
• Proposal for a regulation on geo-blocking
• Proposal for a regulation on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws

Online platforms

• The EU Commission has no intention of proposing sector-wide blanket rules on online Platforms. However, the Commission will be looking to create level playing field between comparable digital services.
• The Commission highlighted the ongoing reviews of EU telecoms legislation, and of the e-Privacy Directive, and is considering whether rules on confidentiality should apply to providers of online communications services as well as traditional telecoms companies.
• The Commission will look to maintain the existing intermediary liability regime, set out in the e-Commerce Directive should be maintained. However, issues such as audio-visual or copyright rules will be addressed through targeted mechanisms or voluntary industry codes
• The Commissions will use the free flow of data initiative to facilitate switching and portability of data among online platforms and cloud computing services:
• The Commission will launch a ‘fact-finding exercise into issues raised in the public consultation by businesses and suppliers who directly interact with platforms’.
• The Commission highlighted concerns over unfair terms and conditions, in particular for access to important databases, market access and general lack of transparency.
  Commission will decide if future legislation action is required by spring 2017
• The Commission’s communication conclusion states that self-regulation and co-regulation can often achieve better outcomes’ for the development of the platform ecosystem. In addition, the Commission closes the communication stating the effectiveness of voluntary measures to maintaining user trust will be key to addressing identified challenges.

Links:

• Communication on ‘Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market – Opportunities and Challenges for Europe’

Audio-visual, Media and Services Directive review
The Commission has proposed a number of reforms of the Directive including:

• Platforms which organise and tag a large quantity of content will have to protect minors from harmful content and protect all users from incitement to hatred
• The role of the European Regulators Group for Audio-visual Media Services (ERGA) will be set out in EU legislation. ERGA will assess co-regulatory codes of conduct and advise the European Commission
• The Commission will oblige on-demand providers to ensure at least 20% share of European content in their catalogues
• The proposal also clarifies that Member States are able to ask on-demand services available in their country to contribute financially to Europeans works
• The revised Directive gives broadcasters more flexibility as to when ads can be shown – the overall limit of 20% of broadcasting time is maintained between 7 am and 11 pm. However, broadcasters now have more freedom to choose more freely when to show ads

Links:

• Proposal to amend the Audio-visual Media Services Directive
• Find out more about techUK’s work on the Digital Single Market
• EU policy-makers meet with techUK delegation of growing online platform