BETA

Activities of Amjad BASHIR related to 2018/0112(COD)

Shadow opinions (1)

2016/11/22
Committee: ITRE
Dossiers: 2018/0112(COD)
Documents: PDF(299 KB) DOC(176 KB)

Amendments (23)

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6

(6) A uniform and targeted set of mandatory rules should therefore be established at Union level to ensure a fair, predictable, sustainable and trusted online business environment within the internal market by ensuring, in particular, that the business users of online intermediation services are afforded appropriate transparency as well as effective redress possibilities throughout the Union. ~~Those rules should also provide for appropriate transparency as regards the ranking of corporate website users in the search results generated by online search engines.~~ At the same, those rules should be such as to safeguard the important innovation potential of the wider online platform economy.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11

(11) For reasons of consistency, the definition of online search engine used in this Regulation should be aligned with the definition used in Directive (EU) 2016/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council21 . _________________ 21 Directive (EU) 2016/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union (OJ L 194, 19.7.2016, p. 1).deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14

(14) Ensuring transparency in the general terms and conditions can be essential to promoting sustainable business relationships and to preventing unfair behaviour to the detriment of business users. Providers of online intermediation services should therefore also ensure that the terms and conditions are easily available at all stages of the contractual relationship, including to prospective business users at the pre-contractual phase, and that any modifications to those terms are notified to business users within a set notice period which is reasonable and proportionate in light of the specific circumstances and which is at least 15 days. That notice period should not apply where, and to the extent that, it is waived in an unambiguous manner by the business user concerned or where, and to the extent that, the need to implement the modification without respecting the notice period stems from a legal obligation incumbent on the service provider under Union or national law.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16

(16) A provider of online intermediation services can have legitimate reasons to decide to suspend or terminate the provision of its services, in whole or in part, to a given business user, including by delisting individual goods or services of a given business user or effectively removing search results. However, given that such decisions can significantly affect the interests of the business user concerned, they should be properly informed of the reasons thereof. The statement of reasons should allow business users to ascertain whether there is scope to ~~challenge~~request a review of the decision, thereby improving the possibilities for business users to seek effective redress where necessary. In addition, requiring a statement of reasons should help to prevent or remedy any unintended removal of online content provided by business users which the provider incorrectly considers to be illegal content, in line with Commission Recommendation (EU) No 2018/33422 . The statement of reasons should identify the objective ground or grounds for the decision, based on the grounds that the provider had set out in advance in its terms and conditions, and refer in a proportionate manner to the relevant specific circumstances that led to that decision. _________________ 22 Commission Recommendation (EU) No 2018/334 of 1 March 2018 on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online (OJ L 63, 6.3.2018, p. 50).

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18

(18) Similarly, the ranking of websites by the providers of online search engines, notably of those websites through which undertakings offer goods and services to consumers, has an important impact on consumer choice and the commercial success of corporate website users. Providers of online search engines should therefore provide a description of the main parameters determining the ranking of all indexed websites, including those of corporate website users as well as other websites. In addition to the characteristics of the goods and services and their relevance for consumers, this description should in the case of online search engines also allow corporate website users to obtain an adequate understanding of whether, and if so how and to what extent, certain design characteristics of the website used, such as their optimisation for display on mobile telecommunications devices, is taken into account. In the absence of a contractual relationship between providers of online search engines and corporate website users, that description should be available to the public in an obvious and easily accessible location on the relevant online search engine. To ensure predictability for corporate website users, the description should also be kept up to date, including the possibility that any changes to the main parameters should be made easily identifiable. Whilst the providers are under no circumstances required to disclose any trade secrets as defined in Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council23 when complying with this requirement to disclose the main ranking parameters, the description given should at least be based on actual data on the relevance of the ranking parameters used. _________________ 23 Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (OJ L 157, 15.6.2016, p. 1).deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25

(25) Providers of online intermediation services should bear a reasonable proportion of the total costs of the mediation, taking into account all relevant elements of the case at hand. To that aim, the mediator should suggest which proportion is reasonable in the individual case. However, that proportion should never be less than half of those costs.deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ, Amjad BASHIR

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1

1. This Regulation lays down rules to ensure that business users of online business-to-consumer intermediation services ~~and corporate website users in relation to online search engines~~where an official business-to- platform relationship is established are granted appropriate transparency and effective redress possibilities.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2

2. This Regulation shall apply to online intermediation services ~~and online search engines~~ provided, or offered to be provided, to business users and corporate website users, respectively, that have their place of establishment or residence in the Union and that, through online intermediation services ~~or online search engines~~, offer goods or services to consumers located in the Union, irrespective of the place of establishment or residence of the providers of those services.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5

(5) ‘online search engine’ means a digital service that allows users to perform searches of, in principle, all websites or websites in a particular language on the basis of a query on any subject in the form of a keyword, phrase or other input, and returns links in which information related to the requested content can be found;deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6

~~(6) ‘provider of online search engine’ means any natural or legal person which provides, or which offers to provide, online search engines to consumers;~~deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8

(8) ‘ranking’ means the relative prominence given to the goods or services offered to consumers by business users through online intermediation services~~, or to websites indexed for consumers by online search engines,~~ as presented, organised or communicated to those consumers by the providers of online intermediation services ~~or by providers of online search engines, respectively,~~ irrespective of the technological means used for such presentation, organisation or communication;

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1

Providers of online intermediation services shall notify to the business users concerned any ~~envisaged~~ modification of their terms and conditions.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2

The envisaged modifications shall not be implemented before the expiry of a notice period which is reasonable and proportionate to the nature and extent of the envisaged modifications and to their consequences for the business user concerned. That notice period shall be at least 15 days from the date on which the provider of online intermediation services notifies the business users concerned about the envisaged modifications.deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3

~~The business user concerned may, either by means of a written statement or a clear affirmative action, waive the notice period referred to in the second subparagraph.~~deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5

5. Paragraph 3 shall not apply where a provider of online intermediation services is subject to a legal obligation which requires it to modify its terms and conditions ~~in a manner which does not allow it to respect the notice period referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3~~.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2

2. The statement of reasons referred to in paragraph 1 shall contain a reference to the specific facts or circumstances that led to the decision of the provider of online intermediation services, as well as a reference to the applicable objective ground or grounds for that decision referred to in Article 3(1)(c).deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1

Providers of online intermediation services shall set out in their terms and conditions the main parameters determining ranking ~~and the reasons for the relative importance of those main parameters as opposed to other parameters~~.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2

2. Providers of online search engines shall set out for corporate website users the main parameters determining ranking, by providing an easily and publicly available description, drafted in clear and unambiguous language on the online search engines of those providers. They shall keep that description up to date.deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 3

3. The descriptions referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be sufficient to enable the business users or corporate website users to obtain an adequate understanding of whether, and if so how and to what extent, the ranking mechanism takes account of the following: (a) the characteristics of the goods and services offered to consumers through the online intermediation services or the online search engine; (b) the relevance of those characteristics for those consumers; (c) as regards online search engines, the design characteristics of the website used by corporate website users.deleted

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 4

4. Providers of online intermediation services ~~and providers of online search engines~~ shall, when complying with the requirements of this Article, not be required to disclose any trade secrets as defined in Article 2(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/943 nor any other business sensitive information that determine their competitive advantage.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Providers of online intermediation services shall make sure that information revealed under this Article does not result in a consumer harm following manipulation of ranking by business users.

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 4

4. Providers of online intermediation services shall bear a reasonable proportion of the total costs of mediation in each individual case when the complaint has a legal basis or is upheld. A reasonable proportion of those total costs shall be determined, on the basis of a suggestion by the mediator, by taking into account all relevant elements of the case at hand, in particular the relative merits of the claims of the parties to the dispute, the conduct of the parties, as well as the size and financial strength of the parties relative to one another. ~~However, providers of online intermediation services shall in any case bear at least half of the total cost.~~

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE

Amjad BASHIR, Evžen TOŠENOVSKÝ

Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 2

2. It shall apply from [date: ~~six~~eighteen months following the day of its publication].

2018/09/27
Committee: ITRE