12 Amendments of José Ramón BAUZÁ DÍAZ related to 2020/0374(COD)
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Core platform services, at the same time, feature a number of characteristics that can be exploited by their providers. These characteristics of core platform services include among others extreme scale economies, which often result from nearly zero marginal costs to add business users, active users or end users. Other characteristics of core platform services are very strong network effects, an ability to connect many business users with many active users and end users through the multi-sidedness of these services, a significant degree of dependence of both business users and end users, lock-in effects, a lack of multi- homing for the same purpose by end users, vertical integration, and data driven- advantages. All these characteristics combined with unfair conduct by providers of these services can have the effect of substantially undermining the contestability of the core platform services, as well as impacting the fairness of the commercial relationship between providers of such services and their business users and end users, leading to rapid and potentially far-reaching decreases in business users’ and end users’ choice in practice, and therefore can confer to the provider of those services the position of a so-called gatekeeper.
Amendment 39 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2 b (new)
Recital 2 b (new)
(2 b) Considers that in defining gatekeepers and core platform services it is important to distinguish between two types of end user, the active end user and the passive end user. An active end user would in principle share their personal data with the gatekeeper or platform in the form of a profile or storing personal data with the gatekeeper in a similar way. Believes, therefore, that it is important to distinguish this type of user from an end user who browses a platform or page but does not share any personal data directly with the gatekeeper or platform.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) A small number of large providers of core platform services have emerged with considerable economic power. Typically, they feature an ability to connect many business users with many active users and end users through their services which, in turn, allows them to leverage their advantages, such as their access to large amounts of data, from one area of their activity to new ones. Some of these providers exercise control over whole platform ecosystems in the digital economy and are structurally extremely difficult to challenge or contest by existing or new market operators, irrespective of how innovative and efficient these may be. Contestability is particularly reduced due to the existence of very high barriers to entry or exit, including high investment costs, which cannot, or not easily, be recuperated in case of exit, and absence of (or reduced access to) some key inputs in the digital economy, such as data. As a result, the likelihood increases that the underlying markets do not function well – or will soon fail to function well.
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) The combination of those features of gatekeepers is likely to lead in many cases to serious imbalances in bargaining power and, consequently, to unfair practices and conditions for business users as well as active and end users of core platform services provided by gatekeepers, to the detriment of prices, quality, choice and innovation therein.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Gatekeepers have a significant impact on the internal market, providing gateways for a large number of business users, to reach active and end users, everywhere in the Union and on different markets. The adverse impact of unfair practices on the internal market and particularly weak contestability of core platform services, including their negative societal and economic implications, have led national legislators and sectoral regulators to act. A number of national regulatory solutions have already been adopted or proposed to address unfair practices and the contestability of digital services or at least with regard to some of them. This has created a risk of divergent regulatory solutions and thereby fragmentation of the internal market, thus raising the risk of increased compliance costs due to different sets of national regulatory requirements.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) By approximating diverging national laws, obstacles to the freedom to provide and receive services, including retail services, within the internal market should be eliminated. A targeted set of harmonised mandatory rules should therefore be established at Union level to ensure contestable and fair digital markets featuring the presence of gatekeepers within the internal market, and in order to create and maintain a safer environment and legal certainty for the users and public authorities.
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Weak contestability and unfair practices in the digital sector are more frequent and pronounced for certain digital services than for others. This is the case in particular for widespread and commonly used digital services that mostly directly intermediate between business users and end users and where features such as extreme scale economies, very strong network effects, an ability to connect many business users with many end users through the multi-sidedness of these services, lock-in effects, a lack of multi- homing or vertical integration are the most prevalent. Often, there is only one or very few large providers of those digital services. These providers of core platform services have emerged most frequently as gatekeepers for business users and end users with far-reaching impacts, gaining the ability to easily set commercial conditions and terms in a unilateral and detrimental manner for their business users and end users. Accordingly, it is necessary to focus only on those digital services that are most broadly used by business users and active or end users and where, based on current market conditions, concerns about weak contestability and unfair practices by gatekeepers are more apparent and pressing from an internal market perspective. In this regard, stresses the importance and the particularities of the transport and tourism online platform market, which require a sector-specific approach and special attention in this regard. Highlights the importance of collaborative economy platforms in the transport and tourism sectors, on which services are provided by both individuals and professionals and stresses the importance of avoiding imposing disproportionate information requirements and administrative burdens on peer-to-peer providers of services.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) This should allow the Commission to intervene in time and effectively, while fully respecting the proportionality of the considered measures. It should also reassure actual or potential market participants about the fairness and contestability of the services concerned. In this regard, calls on the Commission to undertake further steps by initiating a more comprehensive data sharing framework for online platforms dedicated to short-term rentals, following consultations with all relevant stakeholders, and to establish an obligation for platforms to hare their data accordingly, in full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679, with Eurostat and the national statistics office of the country where the service providers operate.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 75
Recital 75
(75) In the context of proceedings carried out under this Regulation, the undertakings concerned should be accorded the right to be heard by the Commission and the decisions taken should be widely publicised. While ensuring the rights to good administration and the rights of defence of the undertakings concerned, in particular, the right of access to the file and the right to be heard, it is essential that confidential informationand sensitive commercial information, which could affect the privacy of trade secrets, be protected. Furthermore, while respecting the confidentiality of the information, the Commission should ensure that any information relied on for the purpose of the decision is disclosed to an extent that allows the addressee of the decision to understand the facts and considerations that led up to the decision. Finally, under certain conditions certain business records, such as communication between lawyers and their clients, may be considered confidential if the relevant conditions are met.
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 78
Recital 78
(78) The Commission should periodically evaluate this Regulation and closely monitor its effects on the contestability and fairness of commercial relationships in the online platform economy, in particular with a view to determining the need for amendments in light of relevant technological or commercial developments. This evaluation should include the regular review of the list of core platform services and the obligations addressed to gatekeepers as well as enforcement of these, in view of ensuring that digital markets across the Union are contestable and fair. In order to obtain a broad view of developments in the sector, the evaluation should take into account the experiences of Member States and relevant stakeholders. The Commission may in this regard also consider the opinions and reports presented to it by the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy that was first established by Commission Decision C(2018)2393 of 26 April 2018, by Eurostat, and by the national statistics offices of the countries where the service providers operate. Following the evaluation, the Commission should take appropriate measures. The Commission should to maintain a high level of protection and respect for the common EU rights and values, particularly equality and non-discrimination, as an objective when conducting the assessments and reviews of the practices and obligations provided in this Regulation.
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 16 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 16 a (new)
(16 a) 'Active user' means any natural or legal person using core platform services, and having saved personal data in the form of a profile of that user or similar, on a platform on a long-term basis;
Amendment 89 #
(b) it operates a core platform service which serves as an important gateway for business users to reach both active and end users; and