11 Amendments of Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA related to 2018/0112(COD)
Amendment 50 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Online intermediation services can be crucial for the commercial success of undertakings who use such services to reach consumers. The growing intermediation of transactions through online intermediation services, fuelled by strong data-driven indirect network effects, lead to an increased dependence of such business users, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, on those services in order for them to reach consumers. Given that increasing dependence, the providers of those services may often have superior bargaining power, which enables them to effectively behave unilaterally in a way that can be unfair and that can be harmful to the legitimate interests of their businesses users and, indirectly, also of consumers in the Union.
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4 a (new)
Recital 4 a (new)
(4 a) For certain sectors of the economy more recently opened to intra-EU competition, online intermediation services and search engine both contribute greatly to the completion of the internal market. In such sectors, online intermediation services and search engines provide services to undertakings which had already established their own online trading channels and are not dependent on online intermediations services. In these cases, further transparency obligations should be considered from the business users to the online intermediation services, in the interest of fair competition and the consumers in the Union.
Amendment 54 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) A uniform and targeted set of mandatory rules should therefore be established at Union level to ensure a fair, predictable, sustainable and trusted online business environment within the internal market by ensuring, in particular, that the business users of online intermediation services are afforded appropriate transparency as well as effective redress possibilities throughout the Union and that the online intermediation services are in the possession of sufficient information to provide consumers in the Union with timely, accurate and relevant services. Those rules should also provide for appropriate transparency as regards the ranking of corporate website users in the search results generated by online search engines. At the same, those rules should be such as to safeguard the important innovation potential of the wider online platform economy.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) Providers of online intermediation services might in certain cases restrict in the terms and conditions the ability of business users to offer goods or services to consumers under more favourable conditions through other means than through those online intermediation services. In those cases, the providers concerned should set out the grounds for doing so, in particular with reference to the main economic, commercial or legal considerations for the restrictions. This transparency obligation should however not be understood as affecting the assessment of the legality of such restrictions under other acts of Union law or the law of Member States in accordance with Union law, including in the areas of competition and unfair commercial practices, and the application of such laws. Upon request from business users or another provider of online interdiction services, or on its own initiative, the Commission should actively and promptly assess the legality of such restrictions against Union law.
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) Providers of online intermediation services should bear a reasonable proportion of the total costs of the mediation, taking into account all relevant elements of the case at hand. To that aim, the mediator should suggest which proportion is reasonable in the individual case. However, that proportion should never be less than half of those costs. In exceptional cases where business users are large undertakings benefitting from their own online trading channel and where the mediator identifies an apparent abuse of the mediation procedure at the detriment of the providers of online intermediation services, business users should bear a higher proportion of the costs.
Amendment 89 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) Codes of conduct, drawn up either by the service providers concerned or by organisations or associations representing them, can contribute to the proper application of this Regulation and should therefore be encouraged. When drawing up such codes of conduct, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, account should be taken of the specific features of the sectors concerned as well as of the specific characteristics of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Commission should assess the compliance of the codes of conduct with Union law.
Amendment 164 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Business users shall share with providers of online intermediation services an accurate description of the characteristics of the goods and services offered to consumers.
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Upon request from business users or another provider of online interdiction services, or on its own initiative, the Commission shall promptly and actively assess the legality of such restrictions against Union law.
Amendment 196 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 4
Article 10 – paragraph 4
4. Providers of online intermediation services 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, pProviders of online intermediation services shall in any case bear at least half of the total cost, except in cases where the mediator has identified an apparent abuse of the mediation procedure at the detriment of the providers of online intermediation services.
Amendment 208 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. The Commission shall verify the compliance of the codes of conduct with Union law.
Amendment 211 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 2
Article 14 – paragraph 2
2. The first evaluation of this Regulation shall be carried out, in particular, with a view to assessing the compliance with, and impact on the online platform economy of, the obligations laid down in Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8, and whether additional rules, including regarding enforcement, may be required to ensure a fair, predictable, sustainable and trusted online business environment within the internal market. As part of this evaluation, an assessment shall also be made of whether this Regulation had any impact in the transport sector, in particular towards the achievement of the Single European Transport Area.