The Digital Services Act (DSA) is another piece of legislation currently under debate at the EU level. It is one of two pieces of proposed legislation released in December 2020, the other being the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which together aim ‘to create a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected and [which] establish a level playing field for businesses’.
The EU’s original ambitious plan was to have the text of the legislation agreed between the various EU institutions during 2022. That plan has now been pushed to the right – by how much we wait to see – but 2022 will see more detail and debate on digital service providers coming through.
What is the DSA?
While the DMA is aimed at online platforms of a certain (large) size who are seen as ‘gatekeepers’ between users and customers, the DSA will catch a broader range of online businesses, including many in the travel industry.
It will impact businesses that use online platforms to make sales into the EU or are themselves an online intermediary connecting businesses and customers. It will apply to businesses which either have an establishment in the EU, a significant number of users in one or more Member States, or which target activities towards one or more Member States.
The DSA is designed to be a common set of rules and obligations across the single market for the providers of online intermediary services. The obligations of these online businesses will be proportionate to their role, size and impact on the online ecosystem so medium and small businesses will not be subject to the same compliance regime as the ‘big tech’ companies.
Main points for travel companies
A lot of the detail seen so far is aimed at improving content moderation and reducing the opportunity for harmful content to be displayed online, much of which will be less relevant to businesses selling travel products and packages. However, the following areas will be relevant:
What next?
As mentioned above, the DSA and DMA are still going through the motions within the various EU institutions. Once enacted, they will take the form of Regulations, and so will be directly applicable to all Member States.
The DSA and DMA will not, of course, be directly applicable in the UK. The UK does not want to fall behind however, so the UK’s Digital Task Force is simultaneously considering the design and implementation of a new pro-competition regime for digital markets in the UK. We will report on this separately and what it could mean for the travel industry.
You can register online or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn to receive our latest news, events and publications.