Regulation (EU) 2019/1150

Overview

This Regulation aims to ensure a fair, predictable, and trusted online business environment by establishing rules for online intermediation services and online search engines. It seeks to grant business users and corporate website users appropriate transparency, fairness, and effective redress possibilities. (Art. 1)

The Regulation applies to providers of online intermediation services (e.g., e-commerce marketplaces, app stores) and online search engines. It covers situations where their business users or corporate website users are established in the EU and offer goods or services to consumers located in the EU, regardless of where the providers are established. (Art. 1 Art. 2)

Key points

• Providers of online intermediation services must ensure their terms and conditions are in plain language, easily available, and detail the grounds for restricting, suspending, or terminating services. Any changes require at least a 15-day notice period. (Art. 3)
• Providers of online intermediation services and online search engines must set out the main parameters determining the ranking of goods, services, or websites, and the relative importance of these parameters. If remuneration can influence ranking, this must be described. (Art. 5)
• Providers must describe in their terms and conditions any differentiated treatment given to their own goods or services (or those of businesses they control) compared to other users, particularly regarding data access and ranking. (Art. 7)
• Providers must describe the technical and contractual access (or lack thereof) that business users have to data provided or generated through the service, both during and after the contract. (Art. 9)
• Providers of online intermediation services must establish an easily accessible and free internal complaint-handling system to deal with issues raised by business users. This obligation does not apply to small enterprises. (Art. 11)
• Providers must identify at least two mediators they are willing to engage with for out-of-court dispute settlement and must bear a reasonable proportion of the mediation costs. Representative organisations and public bodies have the right to take court action to stop non-compliance. (Art. 12 Art. 14)

Structure

The Regulation begins by defining its subject matter, scope, and key terms. It then sets out transparency obligations for providers concerning their terms and conditions, ranking parameters, ancillary services, differentiated treatment, data access, and restrictions on offering different conditions elsewhere. Subsequent articles establish requirements for dispute resolution, including internal complaint-handling systems and mediation. The final articles cover enforcement, monitoring, codes of conduct, and a review clause.

Related instruments

• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (32016R0679) — The Regulation's provisions on data access are without prejudice to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Directive (EU) 2015/1535 — The definition of 'online intermediation services' relies on the definition of 'information society services' from this Directive.