PRESS RELEASE - 23.04.2022

The EU institutions have reached an agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA) – a regulation to create a safer and more accountable online environment.

Overall, the DSA is good news for consumers. The DSA marks a step forward in the protection of consumers online and the regulation of the internet, but there was room for improvement and the EU should have gone further.

Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General at the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), said:
“The Digital Services Act is an important piece of legislation to help achieve a fairer digital society. It means progress for consumers who will now be better protected, for example against dark patterns and the use of sensitive or children’s data for targeted advertising. New obligations requiring platforms to verify that their business customers are legitimate, transparency requirements and options for consumers to choose the level of personalisation of recommender systems [1], and measures to ensure effective redress and enforcement, are very welcome.

“It is nevertheless regrettable that the Digital Services Act didn’t go the full mile to tackle illegal activities on online marketplaces. Legislators have once again missed the opportunity to establish liability obligations of online marketplaces to ensure consumers are protected and compensated if they suffer damages, for example due to an unsafe product bought on a marketplace.”

ENDS

Notes to editors
[1] A recommender system is a set of information-filtering algorithms designed to suggest content or products which might be attractive to a particular user.