[ParlTrack]

Proposal for a regulation
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 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 audiovisual or electronic communication services subject to redress, transparency and non- discrimination sector specific regulation, or to online payment services, since theyse 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.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Sabine VERHEYEN, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12

(12) In order to effectively protect business users where needed, this Regulation should apply where the terms and conditions of a contractual relationship, regardless of their name or form, are not individually negotiated by the parties to them. Whether or not terms and conditions were individually negotiated should be determined on the basis of an overall assessment, whereby the fact that certain provisions thereof may have been individually negotiated is, in itself, not decisive.deleted

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE, Pascal ARIMONT

Proposal for a regulation
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.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Othmar KARAS, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE, Pascal ARIMONT

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 a (new)

(19a) In certain cases, the asymmetry in bargaining power between online intermediation services and other business users results in a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations under the applicable contract, causing harm to the business user. In such cases, the provider of online intermediation service must apply fair treatment to the business user, including treating the business users’ services and its own services substantially similarly. Treatment shall not qualify as fair if it materially impairs the business users’ ability and freedom to do business, thereby causing appreciable harm to the business user.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Carlos COELHO, Lara COMI, Andreas SCHWAB, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE, Pascal ARIMONT

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19 b (new)

(19b) When a provider of online intermediation services competes with other business users, he may harm consumers by reducing the consumers’ choices, or withholding critical information from them. The obligation to provide fair treatment should include ensuring that consumers who access services through the online intermediation service have the right and ability to select and use the services of their choice, without facing any undue burdens, such as where the provider ignores or overrides consumers’ choices of default settings. A provider of online intermediation services fails to provide fair treatment where it does not afford competing business users with all information necessary for them to achieve a comparable level and quality of interoperability with the online intermediation service, and any ancillary services, as are available to the provider itself. A provider of online intermediation services also fails to provide fair treatment where it implements practices that directly or indirectly provide technical or economic advantages to its own offerings that it denies to competing business users. Fair treatment requires the provider to refrain from interfering in the commercial relationship between competing business users and consumers of their services.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Carlos COELHO, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE, Andreas SCHWAB

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21 b (new)

(21b) Certain practices, such as the ones mentioned in the Annex, can be conclusively treated as unfair in all circumstances. The Platform Observatory should continuously review this list of practices and recommend updates to the Commission. As the market for online intermediation services evolves, the Commission should issue non-binding guidance on practices that may comprise unfair commercial practices.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2

TIf the envisaged modifications are significant these shall not be implemented before the expiry of a notice period which is reasonable and proportionate to the nature and extent of the envisaged modifications and to their consequences for the business user concerned. That notice period shall be at least 15 days from the date on which the provider of online intermediation services notifies the business users concerned about the envisaged modifications.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point c

(c) any direct or indirect remuneration charged for the use of the online intermediation services ~~concerned~~or the use of the operating systems concerned, at an ancillary services, and any technical or economic benefit it does not extend to all business users;

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Carlos COELHO, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Pascal ARIMONT, Eva MAYDELL, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
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.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Carlos COELHO, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Unfair Trading Practices 1. The provider of an online intermediation service, an operating system or a search engine service, shall not engage in an unfair commercial practices. 2. A practice shall constitute an unfair commercial practice if the practice leads to situations where there is a materially detrimental impact on competition and consumer choice. 3. The Annex contains a list of those commercial practices which shall in all circumstances be regarded as unfair. The same single list shall apply in all Member States. 4. Article 6.4 does not apply where provider of an online intermediation service, operating system or a search engine service, are required by law to undertake such practices. 5. The same single list shall be reviewed by the Platform Observatory who shall provide recommendations on further commercial practices which are unfair under this Article to the European Commission. In order to provide such recommendations, the Platform Observatory should analyse the situation on the ground and the jurisprudence from national and European Courts. 6. The European Commission shall, by [set date], after consulting stakeholders, issue non-binding Guidance on unfair commercial practices.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point c a (new)

(ca) the internal complaint-handling system provided in article 9 have been engaged and failed to terminate the dispute.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Carlos COELHO, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 a (new)

Article 13a Remedies 1. Member States shall designate a body or bodies responsible for adequate and effective enforcement of this regulation. 2. Member States shall determine the sanctions applicable to infringements of the provisions contained in this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are enforced. These sanctions shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. 3. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be communicated to the Commission and made publicly available on the Commission’s website.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Carlos COELHO, Sabine VERHEYEN, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 b (new)

Article 13b Monitoring Member States shall closely monitor the application of this regulation. To that end, Member states shall designate national authorities to require providers of online intermediation services, online search engines and operating systems providers to submit relevant information. The information gathered by those authorities shall be provided to the Commission and to the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy upon request.

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Philippe JUVIN, Róża THUN UND HOHENSTEIN, Andreas SCHWAB, Sabine VERHEYEN, Pascal ARIMONT, Lara COMI, Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE

Proposal for a regulation
Annex – Title (new)

Annex Commercial practices to be regarded as unfair in all circumstances

2018/10/08
Committee: IMCO

Activities of Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE related to 2018/0112(COD)

Legal basis opinions (0)

Amendments (14)

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