65 Amendments of Evelyne GEBHARDT related to 2018/0112(COD)
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Online intermediation services can be crucial for the commercial success of undertakings who use such services to reach consumers. The growing intermediation of transactions through online intermediation services, fuelled by strong data-driven indirect network effects, lead to an increased dependence of such business users, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, on those services in order for them to reach consumers. Given that increasing dependence, the providers of those services often have superior bargaining power, which enables them to effectively behave unilaterally in a way that can be unfair and that can be harmful to the legitimate interests of their businesses users and, indirectly, also of consumers in the Union. It should thus be avoided that online intermediation services attain a dominant market position and undermine competition by using the power of network effects. It should also be avoided that by classifying workers as independent contractors, platforms may circumvent the requirements of labour law.
Amendment 54 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) A wide variety of business-to- consumer commercial relations are intermediated online by providers operating multi-sided services that are essentially based on the same ecosystem- building business model. In order to capture the relevant services, online intermediation services should be defined in a precise and technologically-neutral manner. In particular, the services should consist of information society services, which are characterised by the fact that they aim to facilitate the initiating of direct transactions between business users and consumers, irrespective of whether the transactions are ultimately concluded either online, on the online portal of the provider of the online intermediation services in question or that of the business user, or offline. In addition, the services should be provided on the basis of contractual relationships both between the providers and business users and between the providers and the consumers. Such a contractual relationship should be deemed to exist where both parties concerned express their intention to be bound in an unequivocal and verifiable manner, without an express written agreement necessarily being required. For the purpose of this Regulation, such a contractual relationship should also be deemed to exist where personal data or other data is provided as counter performance other than money. This shall encompass situations where the provider of a service requests and the end-user actively provides personal data, such as name or email address, or other data directly or indirectly, to the provider. It should also encompass situations where the provider collects information without the end-user actively supplying it, such as personal data, including the IP address, or other automatically generated information, such as information collected and transmitted by a cookie.
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Online intermediation services can be crucial for the commercial success of undertakings who use such services to reach consumers. The growing intermediation of transactions through online intermediation services, fuelled by strong data-driven indirect network effects, lead to an increased dependence of such business users, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, on those services in order for them to reach consumers. Given that increasing dependence, the providers of those services often have superior bargaining power, which enables them to effectively behave unilaterally in a way that can be unfair and that can be harmful to the legitimate interests of their businesses users and, indirectly, also of consumers in the Union. It should thus be avoided that online intermediation services attain a dominant market position and undermine competition by using the power of network effects. It should also be avoided that by classifying workers as independent contractors, platforms may circumvent the requirements of labour law.
Amendment 66 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) In order to effectively protect business users where needed, this Regulation should apply where the terms and conditions of a contractual relationship, regardless of their name or form, are not individually negotiated by the parties to them. Whether or not terms and conditions were individually negotiated should be determined on the basis of an overall assessment, whereby the fact that certain provisions thereof may have been individually negotiated is, in itself, not decisive.
Amendment 80 #
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 90 #
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 93 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 a (new)
Recital 19 a (new)
(19a) It is equally important that online intermediation service providers do not engage in unfair commercial behaviour or unfair contractual terms, which have a materially detrimental impact on competition or on choice for consumers. The relative bargaining power of the online intermediary and the business user, should have no effect as to the consideration of a practice as unfair.
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) A wide variety of business-to- consumer commercial relations are intermediated online by providers operating multi-sided services that are essentially based on the same ecosystem- building business model. In order to capture the relevant services, online intermediation services should be defined in a precise and technologically-neutral manner. In particular, the services should consist of information society services, which are characterised by the fact that they aim to facilitate the initiating of direct transactions between business users and consumers, irrespective of whether and where the transactions are ultimately concluded either online, on the online portal of the provider of the online intermediation services in question or that of the business user, or offline. Such intermediation services should include device operating systems, as applications and services through such operating systems can be an important channel to market for businesses. In addition, the services should be provided on the basis of contractual relationships both between the providers and business users and between the providers and thewhich offer goods and services to consumers. Such a contractual relationship should be deemed to exist where both parties concerned express their intention to be bound in an unequivocal and verifiable manner, without an express written agreement necessarily being required.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 b (new)
Recital 19 b (new)
(19b) Certain practices can be conclusively treated as unfair in all circumstances. The Platform Observatory should continuously review this list of practices and recommend updates to the Commission. As the market for online intermediation services evolves, the Commission should issue guidance on practices that may comprise unfair commercial practices, including the circumstances in which specified practices might be deemed unfair.
Amendment 102 #
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. 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 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1
(1) 'business user' means any natural or legal person which through online intermediation services offers or seeks to offer goods or services to consumers for purposes relating to its trade, business, craft or profession;
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a
(a) they constitute information society services within the meaning of Article 1(1)(b) of Directive (EU) No 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council27 ; or they constitute device operating systems, such as IOS, within the meaning of Directive xxxx/xx/EU (reference to the proposed directive on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States as regards the accessibility requirements for products and services (2015/0278(COD)). _________________ 27 Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17.9.2015, p. 1).
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c
(c) they are provided to business users on the basis of contractual relationships between, on the one hand, the provider of those services and, on the other hand, both those business users and the consumers to which those business users offer goods or services. For the purpose of this Regulation, such a contractual relationship should also be deemed to exist where personal data or other data is provided as counter performance other than money;
Amendment 126 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new)
(3a) "operating system" means software, which, inter alia, handles the interface to peripheral hardware, schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running including a graphical user interface, whether such software is an integral part of consumer general purpose computer hardware, or else free-standing software intended to be run on consumer general purpose computer hardware; however it shall not mean an operating system loader, basic input/output system, or other firmware required at boot time or when installing the operating system;
Amendment 129 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5
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 linkscontent such as short texts, pictures, links, videos, audios, in which information related to the requested content can be found;
Amendment 162 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
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. Where the envisaged modifications require the business user to make significant technical adjustments to its offering, this period should be of at least 3 months.
Amendment 170 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. The online intermediation service provider has to ensure that business users retain full control over their brands. The brand attribution to the business user should be recognizable to the consumer throughout all the stages of the intermediation process.
Amendment 180 #
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 184 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 a (new)
Recital 19 a (new)
(19a) It is equally important that online intermediation service providers do not engage in unfair commercial behaviour or unfair contractual terms, which have a materially detrimental impact on competition or on choice for consumers. The relative bargaining power of the online intermediary and the business user, should have no effect as to the consideration of a practice as unfair.
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 b (new)
Recital 19 b (new)
(19b) Certain practices can be conclusively treated as unfair in all circumstances. The Platform Observatory should continuously review this list of practices and recommend updates to the Commission. As the market for online intermediation services evolves, the Commission should issue guidance on practices that may comprise unfair commercial practices, including the circumstances in which specified practices might be deemed unfair.
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
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 presented to the consumer as a result of his search query on the online marketplace.
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 205 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The transparency requirements referred to in this article shall be accompanied by guidelines issued by the Commission regarding the conditions under which an online intermediation service complies with this article. The Commission shall ensure the due compliance with these requirements.
Amendment 207 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – title
Article 6 – title
Differentiated treatment and unfair commercial practices
Amendment 209 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Providers of online search engines shall set out a description of any differentiated treatment they might give in relation to, on the one hand, goods or services offered to consumers through those online search engine services by either that provider itself of any corporate website users which that provider controls and, on the other hand, other corporate website users.
Amendment 212 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. The description referred to in paragraph 1 and 2 shall cover at least, where applicable, any differentiated treatment through specific measures taken by, or the behaviour of, the provider of the online intermediation services or the provider of online search engines, relating to any of the following:
Amendment 213 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) ranking and default settings;
Amendment 215 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) any direct or indirect remuneration charged for the use of the online intermediation services concernedor online search engine services concerned or any ancillary services as well as any technical or economic benefit it does not extend to all business users;
Amendment 219 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) access to, or conditions for use of, services that are directly connected or ancillary to the online intermediation services or online search engine services concerned.
Amendment 222 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Providers of online intermediation services that provide, directly or indirectly through businesses under their control, goods or services to consumers that compete with those provided by its business users, shall allow consumers to freely choose which good or service to use as default when using the online intermediation service.
Amendment 224 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 b (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. An online intermediation service shall not engage in an unfair commercial practice. A practice shall constitute an unfair commercial practice if the practice leads to situations where there is a materially detrimental impact on competition and consumer choice. In assessing whether a trading practice is unfair, account shall be taken of the following factors: (a) the market position of the online intermediary and the business user; and (b) whether there is a significant imbalance in the parties’ negotiating abilities which results in the online intermediary imposing an unreasonable burden on the business user in its terms and conditions or its commercial practices. Annex I contains a list of those commercial practices which shall in all circumstances be regarded as unfair. The same list shall apply in all Member States and be reviewed by the Platform Observatory who shall provide recommendations to the Commission on further commercial practices which are unfair under this Article.
Amendment 238 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 2 e (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Providers of online intermediation services shall, upon request from a consumer of its services, grant access to the personal or other data, or both, generated directly or indirectly by the activity of the consumer, to a third party designated by the consumer. Such access shall be granted under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 2 g (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 g (new)
2g. Providers of online intermediation services shall enable the transfer of reputation systems such as rankings and reviews of their business users and be held liable for damages if a supplier suffers a reputational loss as a consequence of insufficient data security.
Amendment 241 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1
(1) ‘business user’ means any natural or legal person which through online intermediation services offers or seeks to offer goods or services to consumers for purposes relating to its trade, business, craft or profession;
Amendment 242 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
1. Providers of online intermediation services shall not restrict the ability of business users to offer the same goods and services to consumers under different or the same conditions through other online intermediation services. Where, in the provision of their services, providers of online intermediation services restrict the ability of business users to offer the same goods and services to consumers under different conditions through other means than through those services, they shall include grounds for that restriction in their terms and conditions and make those grounds easily available to the public. Those grounds shall include the main economic, commercial or legal considerations for those restrictions.
Amendment 248 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a
(a) they constitute information society services within the meaning of Article 1(1)(b) of Directive (EU) No 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council27or they constitute device operating systems; _________________ 27 Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17.9.2015, p. 1).
Amendment 255 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c
(c) they are provided to business users on the basis of contractual relationships between, on the one hand, the provider of those services and, on the other hand, both those business users and the consumers to which those business users which offer goods or services to consumers;
Amendment 266 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5
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 linkscontent such as short texts, pictures, links, videos, audios, in which information related to the requested content can be found;
Amendment 278 #
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 before, during or after the mediation process. Initiation of judicial proceedings is not conditional on the initiation of a mediation process.
Amendment 320 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 a (new)
Article 13 a (new)
Article 13a Competent authorities and enforcement 1. Each Member State shall designate a competent authority at national level, which shall be responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with this Regulation and have the following powers: (a) to initiate and conduct investigations on its own initiative or based on a complaint; (b) to require online intermediaries and providers of online search engines to provide all necessary information in order to carry out investigations; (c) to take a decision establishing an infringement of the prohibitions laid down in this Regulation and require the online intermediary or online search engine provider to cease the infringement; (d) to impose a pecuniary fine on the provider. The fine shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive taking into account the nature, duration and gravity of the infringement; and (e) to publish its decisions and report annually on its activities under this Regulation. 2. A business user, corporate website user or an organisation or association which meets the first three requirements of paragraph 2 of article 12 may address a complaint to the competent authority of the relevant Member State. The competent authority shall ensure, if so requested by the complainant, the confidentiality of the identity of the complainant and any other information, in respect of which the complainant considers disclosure harmful to its interests. The complainant shall identify such information in a possible request for confidentiality. 3. Member States shall ensure that competent authorities cooperate effectively with each other and provide each other mutual assistance in investigations that have a cross-border dimension. 4. Competent authorities and national competition authorities, were these do not coincide, shall provide each other with the information necessary for the application of the provisions of this Regulation. In respect of the information exchanged, the receiving authority shall ensure the same level of confidentiality as the originating authority.
Amendment 324 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 b (new)
Article 13 b (new)
Article 13b Information required from online intermediaries 1. Member States shall ensure that online intermediaries provide all the information necessary for competent authorities to monitor and enforce compliance with the provisions of this Regulation, to assist the Commission in drawing up Guidelines as set out in Article 6 and to support the role of the Observatory in completing its tasks, set out in Article 2 of the Commission Decision of 26.4.2018 on setting up the group of experts for the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. 2. Such information requirements shall include: (a) the main parameters determining ranking of offers and their relative importance presented to the consumer as result of his search query; (b) whether the third party offering the goods, services or digital content is a trader or not, on the basis of the declaration of that third party to the online intermediary service provider; (c) whether consumer rights stemming from Union consumer legislation apply or not to the contract concluded; (d) where the contract is concluded with a trader, which trader is responsible for ensuring the application of consumer rights stemming from Union consumer legislation in relation to the contract. This requirement is without prejudice to the responsibility that the online intermediary service provider may have or may assume with regard to specific elements of the contract; and (e) whether and how algorithms or automated decision making were used, to present offers or determine prices, including personalised pricing techniques. Member States may maintain or introduce in their national law additional information requirements and liability rules for contracts concluded on online marketplaces. 3. Undertakings shall provide such information promptly upon request and in conformity with the timescales and level of detail required. The information requested shall be proportionate to the performance of that task. The competent authority shall give the reasons justifying its request for information. 4. Where information is considered confidential by a competent authority in accordance with Union and national rules on business confidentiality or the protection of personal data, the competent authorities concerned shall ensure such confidentiality.
Amendment 325 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 c (new)
Article 13 c (new)
Article 13c Liability rules Online intermediation services and not business users should be held liable for misleading information that business users have given to online intermediation services, if the business users have notified the online intermediation service about the misleading nature of the information provided. Online intermediation services should also be liable if they are the authors of misleading statements regarding the business users or the goods and services offered by the business users.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex I (new)
Annex I (new)
Amendment 332 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
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. Where the envisaged modifications require the business user to make significant technical adjustments to its offering, this period should be of at least 3 months.
Amendment 351 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. The online intermediation service provider has to ensure that business users retain full control over their brands. The brand attribution to the business user should be recognizable to the consumer throughout all the stages of the intermediation process.
Amendment 392 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
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 presented to the consumer as result of his search query on the online marketplace.
Amendment 393 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 436 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The transparency requirements referred to in this article shall be accompanied by guidelines issued by the Commission regarding the conditions under which an online intermediation service complies with this article. The Commission shall ensure the due compliance with these requirements.
Amendment 442 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – title
Article 6 – title
Differentiated treatment and unfair commercial practices
Amendment 452 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Providers of online search engines shall set out a description of any differentiated treatment they might give in relation to, on the one hand, goods or services offered to consumers through those online search engine services by either that provider itself of any corporate website users which that provider controls and, on the other hand, other corporate website users.
Amendment 454 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. The description referred to in paragraph 1 and 2 shall cover at least, where applicable, any differentiated treatment through specific measures taken by, or the behaviour of, the provider of the online intermediation services or the provider of online search engines, relating to any of the following:
Amendment 461 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) ranking and default settings;
Amendment 466 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) any direct or indirect remuneration charged for the use of the online intermediation services concerned or any ancillary services as well as any technical or economic benefit it does not extend to all business users;
Amendment 468 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) any direct or indirect remuneration charged for the use of the online intermediation services or online search engine services concerned;
Amendment 471 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) access to, or conditions for use of, services that are directly connected or ancillary to the online intermediation services or online search engine services concerned.
Amendment 477 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Providers of online intermediation services that provide, directly or indirectly through businesses under their control, goods or services to consumers that compete with those provided by its business users, shall allow consumers to freely choose which good or service to use as default when using the online intermediation service.
Amendment 480 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 b (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. An online intermediation service shall not engage in an unfair commercial practice. A practice shall constitute an unfair commercial practice if the practice leads to situations where there is a materially detrimental impact on competition and consumer choice. In assessing whether a trading practice is unfair, account shall be taken of the following factors: (a) the market position of the online intermediary and the business user; and (b) whether there is a significant imbalance in the parties’ negotiating abilities which results in the online intermediary imposing an unreasonable burden on the business user in its terms and conditions or its commercial practices. 4. The Annex contains a list of those commercial practices which shall in all circumstances be regarded as unfair. The same list shall apply in all Member States and be reviewed by the Platform Observatory who shall provide recommendations to the Commission on further commercial practices which are unfair under this Article.
Amendment 522 #
2a. Providers of online intermediation services shall, upon request from a consumer of its services, grant access to the personal or other data, or both, generated directly or indirectly by the activity of the consumer, to a third party designated by the consumer. Such access shall be granted under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
Amendment 526 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 2 b (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Providers of online intermediation services shall enable the transfer of reputation systems such as rankings and reviews of their business users and be held liable for damages if a supplier suffers a reputational loss as a consequence of insufficient data security.
Amendment 534 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
1. Providers of online intermediation services shall not restrict the ability of business users to offer the same goods and services to consumers under different or the same conditions through other online intermediation services. Where, in the provision of their services, providers of online intermediation services restrict the ability of business users to offer the same goods and services to consumers under different conditions through other means than through those services, they shall include grounds for that restriction in their terms and conditions and make those grounds easily available to the public. Those grounds shall include the main economic, commercial or legal considerations for those restrictions.
Amendment 642 #
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 before. during or after the mediation process. Initiation of judicial proceedings is not conditional on the initiation of a mediation process.
Amendment 704 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 a (new)
Article 13 a (new)
Amendment 709 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 b (new)
Article 13 b (new)
Amendment 728 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex (new)
Annex (new)
Annex Commercial practices to be regarded as unfair in all circumstances 1. Requiring the business user to use the online intermediation service provider’s ancillary services, including payment services, without the option to use any alternative methods. 2. Burdening the business user with a unilateral liability clause which causes an unfair transfer of risk. 3. Imposing retroactive contract clauses which are detrimental to the business user. 4. Maintaining the legal right to use the business user’s confidential information after the contract between the online intermediary service provider and the business user has expired.