40 Amendments of Daniel BUDA related to 2020/0361(COD)
Amendment 90 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) Information society services and especially intermediary services have become an important part of the Union’s economy and daily life of Union citizens. Twenty years after the adoption of the existing legal framework applicable to such services laid down in Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council25, new and innovative business models and services, such as online social networks and marketplaces, have allowed business users and consumers to impart and access information and engage in transactions in novel waysand innovative ways, transforming their communication, connection, consumption and business habits on the one hand, and bringing about societal and economic transformations in the EU on the other. A majority of Union citizens now uses those services on a daily basis. However, the digital transformation and increased use of those services has also resulted in new risks and challenges, both for individual users and for society as a whole. _________________ 25Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market ('Directive on electronic commerce') (OJ L 178, 17.7.2000, p. 1).
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Member States are increasingly introducing, or are considering introducing, national laws on the matters covered by this Regulation, imposing, in particular, diligence requirements for providers of intermediary services. Those diverging national laws create regulatory fragmentation and negatively affect the internal market, which, pursuant to Article 26 of the Treaty, comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment are ensured, taking into account the inherently cross- border nature of the internet, which is generally used to provide those services. The conditions for the provision of intermediary services across the internal market should be harmonised, so as to provide businesses with access to new markets and opportunities to exploit the benefits of the internal market, while allowing consumers and other recipients of the services to have increased choice, striking a proper balance between support for innovation on the one hand and protection for consumers and other service users on the other.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) Responsible and diligent behaviour by providers of intermediary services is essential for a safe, accessible predictable and trusted online environment and, for allowing Union citizens and other persons to exercise their fundamental rights guaranteed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘Charter’), in particular the freedom of expression and information and the freedom to conduct a business, and the right to non- discrimination, and for ensuring that these rights are fully upheld.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) It should be clarified that this Regulation is without prejudice to the rules of Union law on copyright and related rights, which establish specific rules and procedures that should remain unaffected and are lex specialis, prevailing over this Regulation.
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) In order to achieve the objective of ensuring a safe, accessible, predictable and trusted online environment, for the purpose of this Regulation the concept of “illegal content” should be defined broadly and also covers information relating to illegal content, products, services and activities. In particular, that concept should be understood to refer to information, irrespective of its form, that under the applicable law is either itself illegal, such as illegal hate speech or terrorist content and unlawful discriminatory content, or that relates to activities that are illegal, such as the sharing of images depicting child sexual abuse, unlawful non- consensual sharing of private images, online stalking, the sale of non-compliant, hazardous or counterfeit products, the non- authorised use of copyright protected material or activities involving infringements of consumer protection law. In this regard, it is immaterial whether the illegality of the information or activity results from Union law or from national law that is consistent with Union law and what the precise nature or subject matter is of the law in question.
Amendment 140 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) The legal certainty provided by the horizontal framework of conditional exemptions from liability for providers of intermediary services, laid down in Directive 2000/31/EC, has allowed many novel services to emerge and scale-up across the internal market. That framework should therefore be preserved. However, in view of the divergences when transposing and applying the relevant rules at national level, and for reasons of clarity, consistency, predictability, accessibility and coherence, that framework should be incorporated in this Regulation. It is also necessary to clarify certain elements of that framework, having regard to case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) The exemptions from liability established in this Regulation should not apply where, instead of confining itself to providing the services neutrally, by a merely technical and automatic processing of the information provided by the recipient of the service, the provider of intermediary services plays an active role of such a kind as to give it knowledge of, or control over, that information. A provider of intermediary services plays an active role when assistance is given to the recipient of the service, notably for the optimizing and the promotion of the content offered. Those exemptions should accordingly not be available in respect of liability relating to information provided not by the recipient of the service but by the provider of intermediary service itself, including where the information has been developed under the editorial responsibility of that provider.
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) AThe provider should not be able to benefit from exemptions from liability provided for in this Regulation where the main purpose is to engage in or facilitate illegal activities or where a provider of intermediary services that deliberately collaborates with a recipient of the services in order to undertake illegal activities and does not provide its service neutrally and should therefore not be able to benefit from the exemptions from liability provided for in this Regulation.
Amendment 157 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) In order to create legal certainty, ensuring that the regulatory framework provisions are applied in a proportional manner, and not to discourage activities aimed at detecting, identifying and acting against illegal content that providers of intermediary services may undertake on a voluntary basis, it should be clarified that the mere fact that providers undertake such activities does not lead to the unavailability of the exemptions from liability set out in this Regulation, provided those activities are carried out in good faith and in a diligent manner. In addition, it is appropriate to clarify that the mere fact that those providers take measures, in good faith, to comply with the requirements of Union law, including those set out in this Regulation as regards the implementation of their terms and conditions, should not lead to the unavailability of those exemptions from liability. Therefore, any such activities and measures that a given provider may have taken should not be taken into account when determining whether the provider can rely on an exemption from liability, in particular as regards whether the provider provides its service neutrally and can therefore fall within the scope of the relevant provision, without this rule however implying that the provider can necessarily rely thereon.
Amendment 173 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 29
Recital 29
(29) Depending on the legal system of each Member State and the field of law at issue, national judicial or administrative authorities may order providers of intermediary services to act against certain specific items of illegal content or to provide certain specific items of information. The national laws on the basis of which such orders are issued differ considerably and the orders are increasingly addressed in cross-border situations, often leading to fragmentation of the internal market. In order to ensure that those orders can be complied with in an effective and efficient manner, so that the public authorities concerned can carry out their tasks and the providers are not subject to any disproportionate burdens, without unduly affecting the rights and legitimate interests of any third parties, it is necessary to set certain uniform conditions that those orders should meet and certain complementary requirements relating to the processing of those orders.
Amendment 181 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) The orders to provide information regulated by this Regulation concern the production of specific information about individual recipients of the intermediary service concerned who are identified in those orders for the purposes of determining compliance by the recipients of the services with applicable Union or national rules. Therefore, ois information, which should include the relevant email addresses, telephone numbers, IP addresses and other contact details necessary to ensure such compliance, should be available in respect of all types orders. Orders about information on a group of recipients of the service who are not specifically identified, including orders to provide aggregate information required for statistical purposes or evidence-based policy-making, should remain unaffected by the rules of this Regulation on the provision of information.
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 34
Recital 34
(34) In order to achieve the objectives of this Regulation, and in particular to improve the functioning of the internal market and ensure an accessible, safe and transparent online environment, it is necessary to establish a clear, predictable and balanced set of harmonised due diligence obligations for providers of intermediary services. Those obligations should aim in particular to guarantee different public policy objectives such as the safety and trust of the recipients of the service, including minors and vulnerable users, protect the relevant fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter, to ensure meaningful accountability of those providers and to empower recipients and other affected parties, whilst facilitating the necessary oversight by competent authorities, ensuring the right balance between support for innovation on the one hand and protection for consumers and users on the other.
Amendment 192 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 38
Recital 38
(38) Whilst the freedom of contract of providers of intermediary services should in principle be respected, it is appropriate to set certain uniform and proportional rules on the content, application and enforcement of the terms and conditions of those providers in the interests of transparency, the protection of recipients of the service and the avoidance of unfair or arbitrary outcomes.
Amendment 196 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 40
Recital 40
Amendment 218 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 43 a (new)
Recital 43 a (new)
(43 a) Providers of hosting services play a particularly important role in tackling illegal content online, as they store information provided by and at the request of the recipients of the service and typically give other recipients access thereto, sometimes on a large scale. It is important that all providers of hosting services, regardless of their size, put in place user-friendly notice and action mechanisms that facilitate the notification of specific items of information that the notifying party considers to be illegal content to the provider of hosting services concerned ('notice'), pursuant to which that provider can decide, based on its own assessment, whether or not it agrees with that assessment and wishes to remove or disable access to that content ('action'). Provided the requirements on notices are met, it should be possible for individuals or entities to notify multiple specific items of allegedly illegal content through a single notice. The obligation to put in place notice and action mechanisms should apply, for instance, to file storage and sharing services, web hosting services, advertising servers and paste bins, in as far as they qualify as providers of hosting services covered by this Regulation.
Amendment 219 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 43 b (new)
Recital 43 b (new)
(43 b) The rules on such notice and action mechanisms should be harmonised at Union level, so as to provide for the timely, diligent and objective processing of notices on the basis of rules that are uniform, transparent and clear and that provide for robust safeguards to protect the right and legitimate interests of all affected parties, in particular their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter, irrespective of the Member State in which those parties are established or reside and of the field of law at issue. The fundamental rights include, as the case may be, the right to freedom of expression and information, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to protection of personal data, the right to non-discrimination and the right to an effective remedy of the recipients of the service; the freedom to conduct a business, including the freedom of contract, of service providers; as well as the right to human dignity, the rights of the child, the right to protection of property, including intellectual property, and the right to non-discrimination of parties affected by illegal content.
Amendment 305 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 70
Recital 70
(70) The provision of online advertising generally involves several actors, including intermediary services that connect publishers of advertising with advertisers. Codes of conducts should support and complement the transparency obligations relating to advertisement for online platforms and very large online platforms set out in this Regulation in order to provide for flexible and effective mechanisms to facilitate and enhance the compliance with those obligations, notably as concerns the modalities of the transmission of the relevant information. The involvement of a wide range of stakeholders should ensure that those codes of conduct are widely supported, technically sound, effective and offer the highest levels of user-friendliness to ensure that the transparency obligations achieve their objectives.
Amendment 350 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) set out uniform and proportional rules for a safe, accessible, predictable and trusted online environment, where fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter are effectively protected.
Amendment 373 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 1
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 1
— a significant number of users in relation to their population in one or more Member States; or
Amendment 389 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point h a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point h a (new)
(h a) ‘editorial platform’ means an intermediary service which is in connection with a press publication within the meaning of Article 2(4) of Directive (EU) 2019/790 or another editorial media service and which allows users to discuss topics generally covered by the relevant media or to comment editorial content and which is under the supervision of the editorial team of the publication or other editorial media.
Amendment 397 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
(i a) 'live streaming platform services' means an information society service which main or one the main purposes is to give the public access to live broadcasted audio or video material and which it organises and promotes for profit-making purposes;
Amendment 421 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 482 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The conditions and requirements laid down in this article shall be without prejudice to data confidentiality and commercial secrecy requirements, in conformity with Union law.
Amendment 514 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 9 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The conditions and requirements laid down in this article shall be without prejudice to data confidentiality and commercial secrecy requirements, in conformity with Union law.
Amendment 525 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Article 11 – paragraph 1
1. Providers of intermediary services which do not have an establishment in the Union but which offer services in the Union shall designate, in writing, a legal or natural person as their legal representative in one of the Member States where the provider offers its services. The Member States may require very large online platforms to designate a legal representative in their Member State.
Amendment 531 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 a (new)
Article 11 a (new)
Article 11 a Exclusions Articles 12 and 13 of Section 1,and the provisions of Section 2, and Section 3 of Chapter III shall not apply to: (a) editorial platforms within the meaning of Article 2(h a) of this Regulation; (b) online platforms that qualify as micro and medium-sized enterprises within the meaning of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC. (c) an intermediary service, except very large online platforms, where it would constitute a disproportionate burden in view of its size, the nature of its activity and the risk posed to users.
Amendment 575 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 2
Article 13 – paragraph 2
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to providers of intermediary services that qualify as micro or small enterprises within the meaning of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC. In addition, paragraph 1 shall not apply to enterprises that previously qualified for the status of a small or microenterprise within the meaning of the Annex to Recommendation2003/361/EC during the twelve months following their loss of that status.
Amendment 634 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 4
Article 15 – paragraph 4
4. Providers of hostingaragraphs 2, 3 and 4 shall not apply to providers of intermediary services sthall publish the decisions and the statements of reast qualify as micro or small enterprises within the meaning of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC. In additions, referred to in paragraph 1 in a publicly accessible database managed by the Commission. That information shall not contain personal datathose paragraphs shall not apply to enterprises that previously qualified for the status of a micro or small enterprise within the meaning of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC during the twelve months following their loss of that status.
Amendment 647 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 a (new)
Article 16 a (new)
Amendment 822 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 24
Article 24
Amendment 918 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 28 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 28 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) any commitmentof voluntary measures undertaken pursuant to the codes of conduct referred to in Articles 35 and 36 and the crisis protocols referred to in Article 37.
Amendment 935 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 29 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. The parameters used in recommender systems shall always be fair and non-discriminatory.
Amendment 973 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 31 – paragraph 3
Article 31 – paragraph 3
3. Very large online platforms shall provide access to data pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 for a limited time and through online databases or application programming interfaces, as appropriate.
Amendment 1016 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 35 – paragraph 2
Article 35 – paragraph 2
2. Where significant systemic risk within the meaning of Article 26(1) in relation to the dissemination of illegal content emerge and concern several very large online platforms, the Commission may invite the very large online platforms concerned, other very large online platforms, other online platforms and other providers of intermediary services, as appropriate, as well as civil society organisations and other interested parties, to participate in the drawing up of codes of conduct, including by setting out commitments to take specific risk mitigation measures, as well as a regular reporting framework on any measures taken and their outcomes.
Amendment 1036 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 36 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 36 – paragraph 2 – point b
Amendment 1058 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 41 – paragraph 2 – point e
Article 41 – paragraph 2 – point e
(e) the power to proportionate adopt interim measures to avoid the risk of serious harm.
Amendment 1061 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 42 – paragraph 2
Article 42 – paragraph 2
2. Penalties shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. They shall take into particular account the interest of small scale providers and start ups and their economic viability. Member States shall notify the Commission of those rules and of those measures and shall notify it, without delay, of any subsequent amendments affecting them.
Amendment 1132 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 55 – paragraph 1
Article 55 – paragraph 1
1. In the context of proceedings which may lead to the adoption of a decision of non-compliance pursuant to Article 58(1), where there is an urgency due to the risk of serious damage for the recipients of the service, the Commission may, by decision, order proportionate interim measures against the very large online platform concerned on the basis of a prima facie finding of an infringement.
Amendment 1138 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 59 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 59 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. The Commission may by decision and in compliance with the proportionality principle impose on the very large online platform concerned or other person referred to in Article 52(1) fines not exceeding 1% of the total turnover in the preceding financial year, where they intentionally or negligently:
Amendment 1151 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 74 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 74 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. It shall apply from [date - threesix months after its entry into force].