22 Amendments of Jasenko SELIMOVIC related to 2018/0112(COD)
Amendment 73 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Online intermediation services and online search engines, as well as the commercial transactions facilitated by those services, have an intrinsic cross- border potential and are of particular importance for the proper functioning of the Union’s internal market in today’s economy. The potentially unfair and harmful trading practices of certain providers of those services in respect of business users and corporate website users hamper the full realisation of that potential and negatively affect the proper functioning of the internal market. In addition, the full realisation of that potential is hampered, and the proper functioning of the internal market is negatively affected, by diverging laws of certain Member States which, with a varying degree of effectiveness, regulate those services, while other Member States are considering adopting such laws.
Amendment 89 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Since online intermediation services and online search engines typically have a global dimension, this Regulation should apply to providers of those services regardless of whether they are established in a Member State or outside the Union, provided that two cumulative conditions are met. Firstly, the business users or corporate website users should be established in the Union. Secondly, the business users or corporate website users should, through the provision of those services, offer their goods or services to consumers located in the Union at least for part of the transaction. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 (Brussels I) and Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (Rome I), this would mean that the online intermediation services and online search engines have targeted or directed sales to consumers located in one or more Member States, irrespective of where in the Union. Such consumers should be located in the Union, but do not need to have their place of residence in the Union nor have the nationality of any Member State. Accordingly, this Regulation should not apply where the business users or corporate websites users are not established in the Union or where they are established in the Union but where they use online intermediation services or online search engines to offer goods or services exclusively to consumers located outside the Union or to persons who are not consumers.
Amendment 110 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Examples of online intermediation services covered by this Regulation should consequently include online e-commerce market places, including collaborative ones on which business users are active, online software applications services and, online social media services and voice assistance services. However, this Regulation should not apply to online advertising serving tools or online advertising exchanges which are not provided with the aim of facilitating the initiation of direct transactions and which do not involve a contractual relationship with consumers. This Regulation should also not apply to online payment services, since they do not themselves meet the applicable requirements but are rather inherently auxiliary to the transaction for the supply of goods and services to the consumers concerned.
Amendment 129 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) To ensure that the general terms and conditions of a contractual relationship enable business users to determine the commercial conditions for the use, termination and suspension of online intermediation services, and to achieve predictability regarding their business relationship, those terms and conditions should be drafted in clear and unambiguousplain and intelligible language which is easily understood by an average business user. Terms and conditions should not be considered to have been drafted in clear and unambiguousplain and intelligible language where they are vague, unspecific or lack detail on important commercial issues and thus fail to give business users a reasonable degree of predictability on the most important aspects of the contractual relationship. Moreover, language that could be seen as misleading in the choice of phrasing should not be considered plain and intelligible.
Amendment 152 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
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, as well as the exercise of fundamental rights business users enjoy, such as the freedom to conduct business and freedom of expression, 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 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).
Amendment 179 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Where a provider of online intermediation services itself offers certain goods or services to consumers through its own online intermediation services, or does so through a business user which it controls, that provider may compete directly with other business users of its online intermediation services which are not controlled by the provider. In such situations, in particular, it is important that the provider of online intermediation services acts in a transparent manner and provides a description of any differentiated treatment, whether through legal, commercial or technical means such as default settings, that it might give in respect of goods or services it offers itself compared to those offered by business users. To ensure proportionality, this obligation should apply at the level of the overall online intermediation services, rather than at the level of individual goods or services offered through those services.
Amendment 202 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) In order to enable business users, including those whose use of the relevant online intermediation services might have been suspended or terminated, to have access to immediate, suitable and effective redress possibilities, providers of online intermediation services should provide for an internal complaint-handling system. That internal complaint-handling system should be aimed at ensuring that a significant proportion of complaints can be solved bilaterally by the provider of the online intermediation services and the relevant business user in a reasonable period of time. In addition, ensuring that providers of online intermediation services publish information on the functioning and effectiveness of their internal complaint- handling system should help business users to understand the types of issues that can arise in the context of the provision of different online intermediation services and the possibility of reaching a quick and effective bilateral resolutionshould regularly review their internal complaint- handling system.
Amendment 208 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) Mediation can offer providers of online intermediation services and their business users a means to resolve disputes in a satisfactory manner, without having to use judicial proceedings which can be lengthy and costly. Therefore, providers of online intermediation services should facilitate mediation by, in particular, identifying mediators with which they are willing to engage. Mediators which provide their services from a location outside the Union should only be identified where it is guaranteed that the use of those services does not in any way deprive the business users concerned of any legal protection offered to them under Union law or the law of the Member States, including the requirements of this Regulation and the applicable law regarding protection of personal data and trade secrets. Nonetheless, providers of online intermediation services and their business users should remain free to jointly identify any mediator of their choice after a dispute has arisen between them. In order to be accessible, fair, and as swift, efficient and effective as possible, thoseall identified mediators should meet certain set criteria.
Amendment 221 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) Codes of conduct, drawn up either by the service providers concerned or by qualified organisations or associations representing them, can contribute to the proper application of this Regulation and should therefore be encouraged. When drawing up such codes of conduct, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, account should be taken of the specific features of the sectors concerned as well as of the specific characteristics of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
Amendment 288 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Providers of online intermediation services and online search engines shall ensure that their terms and conditions:
Amendment 290 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) are drafted in clear and unambiguousplain and intelligible language;
Amendment 296 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) are easily available for corporate website users and business users at all stages of their commercial relationship with the provider of online intermediation services, including in the pre-contractual stage;
Amendment 304 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) set out the objective grounds for decisions to suspend or terminate, in whole or in part, the provision of their online intermediation services to business users.
Amendment 310 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) set out the objective grounds for decisions to suspend or terminate, in whole or in part, the provision of their online intermediation services to business users and corporate business users; in making such decisions, online intermediation service providers must respect the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and comply with the principle of proportionality.
Amendment 374 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Where a suspension or termination are based on a correctable infringement of the terms and conditions and not committed in bad faith, provider of online intermediation services shall seek to reinstate the business user as soon as the non-compliance is corrected. Where a suspension or termination is found to be in error, the business user shall be reinstalled without delay and under the same conditions as before the suspension or termination.
Amendment 407 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2
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 unambiguousplain and intelligible language on the online search engines of those providers. They shall keep that description up to date.
Amendment 463 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) ranking and default settings;
Amendment 484 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
1. Providers of online intermediation services and search engines shall include in their terms and conditions a description of the technical and contractual access, or absence thereof, of business users and corporate website users to any personal data or other data, or both, which business users, corporate website users or consumers provide for the use of the search engines or the online intermediation services concerned or which are generated through the provision of those services.
Amendment 556 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – introductory part
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – introductory part
That internal complaint-handling system shall be easily accessible for business users and ensure handling within a reasonable timeframe. It shall allow them to lodge complaints directly with the provider concerned regarding any of the following issues:
Amendment 569 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) communicate to the complainant the outcome of the internal complaint- handling process, in an individualised manner and drafted in clear and unambiguousplain and intelligible language.
Amendment 638 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The obligation set out in paragraph 1 shall not apply to providers of online intermediation services that are small enterprises within the meaning of Article 2(2) of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC.
Amendment 643 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 5
Article 10 – paragraph 5
5. Any attempt to reach an agreement through mediation on the settlement of a dispute in accordance with this Article shall not affect the rights of the providers of the online intermediation services and of the business users concerned to initiate judicial proceedings at any time during or after the mediation process. Initiation of judicial proceedings is not conditional on the initiation of a mediation process.