38 Amendments of Pascal ARIMONT related to 2018/0112(COD)
Amendment 69 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3 a (new)
Recital 3 a (new)
(3a) Operating system providers play also a crucial role as an intermediary between content providers and consumers. The main purpose of an operating system is to control the basic functions of a device and enable the user to make use of such a device and run application software on it. However, operating systems are usually proposed with a set of accessory by-default application software in order to offer the consumer a turnkey device. This can shape deeply the choice of applications used by consumers later on. Moreover, operating systems also handle the way those applications can be run on the device and act as a key platform between application developers and consumers. As operating system providers are often vertically integrated with application developers, issues can arise notably regarding the possibility of a differentiated treatment between native and third-party applications; Increasing transparency would help prevent unfair commercial behaviours.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Online intermediation services, operating systems 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 7
Recital 7
(7) Since online intermediation services, operating systems and online search engines typically have a global dimension, this Regulation should apply to providers of those services regardless of whether they are established in a Member State or outside the Union, provided that two cumulative conditions are met. Firstly, the business users or corporate website users should be established in the Union. Secondly, the business users or corporate website users should, through the provision of those services, offer their goods or services to consumers located in the Union at least for part of the transaction. Such consumers should be located in the Union, but do not need to have their place of residence in the Union nor have the nationality of any Member State. Accordingly, this Regulation should not apply where the business users or corporate websites users are not established in the Union or where they are established in the Union but where they use online intermediation services or online search engines to offer goods or services exclusively to consumers located outside the Union or to persons who are not consumers.
Amendment 113 #
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 such as application stores, 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 175 #
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. Such a provider may have an economic incentive and the ability to use its control over the online intermediation service to provide technical or economic advantages to its own offerings, or those offered through a business user which it controls, that it could deny to competing business users. If a provider of online intermediation services exercises this ability, its conduct may deprive such competing business users of equality of opportunity and can lead to consumer harm by reducing their choices, or withholding critical information from them. 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, that it might give in respect of goods or services it offers itself compared to those offered by business users. For purposes of this Regulation, a provider’s service competes with those of its other business users if it is regarded as interchangeable or substitutable by consumers of the online intermediation service, including by reason of the characteristics, prices, or intended uses of the services. 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 183 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 a (new)
Recital 19 a (new)
Amendment 186 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 b (new)
Recital 19 b (new)
Amendment 226 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Regulation lays down rules to ensure that business users of online intermediation services, device operating systems and corporate website users in relation to online search engines are granted appropriate transparency and effective redress possibilities.
Amendment 235 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2
Article 1 – paragraph 2
2. This Regulation shall apply to online intermediation services, device operating systems and online search engines provided, or offered to be provided, to business users and corporate website users, respectively, that have their place of establishment or residence in the Union and that, through online intermediation services or online search engines, offer goods or services to consumers located in the Union, irrespective of the place of establishment or residence of the providers of those services.
Amendment 260 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new)
(3a) ‘device operating system’ means system software products that control the basic functions of a device and enable the user to make use of such a device and run application software on it.
Amendment 261 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 b (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 b (new)
(3b) ‘operating systems providers’ means any natural or legal person which provides, or which offers to provide, device operating systems.
Amendment 268 #
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, vocal request, phrase or other input, and returns linksresults in any format in which information related to the requested content can be found;
Amendment 285 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Providers of online intermediation services and providers of operating systems shall ensure that their terms and conditions:
Amendment 297 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) are easily available for business users at all stages of their commercial relationship with the provider of online intermediation services or the providers of operating systems, including in the pre- contractual stage;
Amendment 321 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Providers of online intermediation services shalland providers of operating system shall actively notify to the business users concerned any envisaged modification of their terms and conditions.
Amendment 339 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 4
Article 3 – paragraph 4
4. Modifications to terms and conditions implemented by a provider of online intermediation services or by providers of operating systems contrary to the provisions of paragraph 3 shall be null and void.
Amendment 345 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5
Article 3 – paragraph 5
5. Paragraph 3 shall not apply where a provider of online intermediation services or a provider of operating systems is subject to a legal obligation which requires it to modify its terms and conditions in a manner which does not allow it to respect the notice period referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3.
Amendment 379 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 a (new)
Article 4 a (new)
Article 4a Article 4.1 shall not apply where a provider of online intermediation services is subject to a legal obligation to sanction, suspend, or terminate, in whole or in part, the provision of its online intermediation services to a given business, or does so in order to fight against illicit content. In such cases, the business user shall be notified without undue delay.
Amendment 423 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. (a) Providers of online search engines shall notify to corporate website users, in a reasonable notice period, any changes to ranking mechanism referred to in article 5.2. (b) Providers of online search engines shall set out for corporate website users a description of any differentiated treatment which they give, or may give, in relation to, on the one hand, good and services offered to consumers through those online search engines services by either that provider itself or any business users which that provider controls and, on the other hand, other websites users. It shall be clearly indicated, with a specific symbol or any other tool, where provider of online search engines itself, or any business users, which that provider controls partially or entirely, offer goods and services to consumers through online search engines services. (c) Providers of online search engines shall set out for corporate website users an easily accessible internal system allowing websites users to enter into contact with them.
Amendment 445 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Article 6 – paragraph 1
1. Providers of online intermediation services and providers of operating systems shall include in their terms and conditions a description of any differentiated treatment which they give, or may give, in relation to, on the one hand, goods or services offered to consumers through those online intermediation services or operating systems by either that provider itself or any business users which that provider controls and, on the other hand, other business users.
Amendment 457 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. The description referred to in paragraph 1 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 of the operating system relating to any of the following:
Amendment 459 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) access that the provider, or that the business users which that provider controls, may have to any personal data or other data, or both, which business users or consumers provide for the use of the online intermediation services or of the operating system concerned or which are generated through the provision of those services;
Amendment 473 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 (new)
3. To the extent a provider of online intermediation services, or of operating systems or any business user which that provider controls, offers goods or services that compete with those offered by other business users, the provider shall apply fair treatment to those other business users in such a way that it does not materially impair those business users’ ability to do business.
Amendment 536 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
1. Where, in the provision of their services, providers of online intermediation services or providers of operating systems 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 562 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. As part of their internal complaint- handling system, providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall:
Amendment 573 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 3
Article 9 – paragraph 3
3. Providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall include in their terms and conditions all relevant information relating to the access to and functioning of their internal complaint-handling system.
Amendment 581 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall annually establish and make easily available to the public information on the functioning and effectiveness of their internal complaint-handling system.
Amendment 606 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 10 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall identify in their terms and conditions one or more mediators with which they are willing to engage to attempt to reach an agreement with business users on the settlement, out of court, of any disputes between the provider and the business user arising in relation to the provision of the online intermediation services concerned, including complaints that could not be resolved by means of the internal complaint-handling system referred to in Article 9.
Amendment 614 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) their mediation services are affordable for an average business user of the online intermediation services, the online search engines, and the operating systems concerned;
Amendment 615 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) they are capable of providing their mediation services in the language of the terms and conditions which govern the contractual relationship between the provider of online intermediation services, the provider of online search engines, or the provider of operating systems and the business user concerned;
Amendment 617 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 3
Article 10 – paragraph 3
3. Providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall engage in good faith in any attempt to reach an agreement through the mediation of any of the mediators which they identified in accordance with paragraph 1, with a view to reaching an agreement on the settlement of the dispute.
Amendment 633 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 4
Article 10 – paragraph 4
4. Providers of online intermediation services , providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall bear a reasonable proportion of the total costs of mediation in each individual case. A reasonable proportion of those total costs shall be determined, on the basis of a suggestion by the mediator, by taking into account all relevant elements of the case at hand, in particular the relative merits of the claims of the parties to the dispute, the conduct of the parties, as well as the size and financial strength of the parties relative to one another. However, providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems shall in any case bear at least half of the total cost.
Amendment 640 #
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, online search engine, or operating systems and of the business users concerned to initiate judicial proceedings at any time during or after the mediation process.
Amendment 651 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Article 11 – paragraph 1
The Commission shall encourage providers of online intermediation services, providers of online search engines, and providers of operating systems as well as organisations and associations representing them to individually or jointly set up one or more organisations providing mediation services which meet the requirements specified in Article 10(2), for the specific purpose of facilitating the out-of-court settlement of disputes with business users arising in relation to the provision of those services, taking particular account of the cross- border nature of online intermediation services, online search engines, and operating systems.
Amendment 657 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 1
1. Organisations and associations that have a legitimate interest in representing business users or in representing corporate website users, as well as public bodies set up in Member States, shall have the right to take action before national courts in the Union, in accordance with the rules of the law of the Member State where the action is brought, to stop or prohibit any non- compliance by providers of online intermediation services or by providers of online search engines or by providers of operating systems with the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.
Amendment 693 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 3
Article 12 – paragraph 3
3. The right referred to in paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to the rights of business users and corporate website users to individually take action before competent national courts, in accordance with the rules of the law of the Member State where the action is brought, to address any non-compliance by providers of online intermediation services by providers of online search engines, or by providers of operating systems with the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.
Amendment 729 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex – Title (new)
Annex – Title (new)
Annex Commercial practices to be regarded as unfair in all circumstances
Amendment 733 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex – point d (new)
Annex – point d (new)
(d) Impeding consumers access to, or discovery of, products, services, or applications offered by other business users on the online service for reasons that are not objectively justifiable;