CHAPTER III - Due Diligence Obligations for a transparent and safe online environment (Art. 11 - 48)
- Section 1 – Provisions applicable to all providers of intermediary services
- Article 11 – Points of contact for Member States’ authorities, the Commission and the Board
- Article 12 – Points of contact for recipients of the service
- Article 13 – Legal representatives
- Article 14 – Terms and conditions
- Article 15 – Transparency reporting obligations for providers of intermediary services
- Section 2 – Additional provisions applicable to providers of hosting services, including online platforms
- Article 16 – Notice and action mechanisms
- Article 17 – Statement of reasons
- Article 18 – Notification of suspicions of criminal offences
- Section 3 – Additional provisions applicable to providers of online platforms
- Article 19 – Exclusion for micro and small enterprises
- Article 20 – Internal complaint-handling system
- Article 21 – Out-of-court dispute settlement
- Article 22 – Trusted flaggers
- Article 23 – Measures and protection against misuse
- Article 24 – Transparency reporting obligations for providers of online platforms
- Article 25 – Online interface design and organisation
- Article 26 – Advertising on online platforms
- Article 27 – Recommender system transparency
- Article 28 – Online protection of minors
- Section 4 – Additional provisions applicable to providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders
- Article 29 – Exclusion for micro and small enterprises
- Article 30 – Traceability of traders
- Article 31 – Compliance by design
- Article 32 – Right to information
- Section 5 – Additional obligations for providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines to manage systemic risks
- Article 33 – Very large online platforms and very large online search engines
- Article 34 – Risk assessment
- Article 35 – Mitigation of risks
- Article 36 – Crisis response mechanism
- Article 37 – Independent audit
- Article 38 – Recommender systems
- Article 39 – Additional online advertising transparency
- Article 40 – Data access and scrutiny
- Article 41 – Compliance function
- Article 42 – Transparency reporting obligations
- Article 43 – Supervisory fee
- Section 6 – Other provisions concerning due diligence obligations
- Article 44 – Standards
- Article 45 – Codes of conduct
- Article 46 – Codes of conduct for online advertising
- Article 47 – Codes of conduct for accessibility
- Article 48 – Crisis protocols
- Section 1 – Competent authorities and national Digital Services Coordinators
- Article 49 – Competent authorities and Digital Services Coordinators
- Article 50 – Requirements for Digital Services Coordinators
- Article 51 – Powers of Digital Services Coordinators
- Article 52 – Penalties
- Article 53 – Right to lodge a complaint
- Article 54 – Compensation
- Article 55 – Activity reports
- Section 2 – Competences, coordinated investigation and consistency mechanisms
- Article 56 – Competences
- Article 57 – Mutual assistance
- Article 58 – Cross-border cooperation among Digital Services Coordinators
- Article 59 – Referral to the Commission
- Article 60 – Joint investigations
- Section 3 – European Board for Digital Services
- Article 61 – European Board for Digital Services
- Article 62 – Structure of the Board
- Article 63 – Tasks of the Board
- Section 4 – Supervision, investigation, enforcement and monitoring in respect of providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines
- Article 64 – Development of expertise and capabilities
- Article 65 – Enforcement of obligations of providers of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines
- Article 66 – Initiation of proceedings by the Commission and cooperation in investigation
- Article 67 – Requests for information
- Article 68 – Power to take interviews and statements
- Article 69 – Power to conduct inspections
- Article 70 – Interim measures
- Article 71 – Commitments
- Article 72 – Monitoring actions
- Article 73 – Non-compliance
- Article 74 – Fines
- Article 75 – Enhanced supervision of remedies to address infringements of obligations laid down in Section 5 of Chapter III
- Article 76 – Periodic penalty payments
- Article 77 – Limitation period for the imposition of penalties
- Article 78 – Limitation period for the enforcement of penalties
- Article 79 – Right to be heard and access to the file
- Article 80 – Publication of decisions
- Article 81 – Review by the Court of Justice of the European Union
- Article 82 – Requests for access restrictions and cooperation with national courts
- Article 83 – Implementing acts relating to Commission intervention
- Section 5 – Common provisions on enforcement
- Article 84 – Professional secrecy
- Article 85 – Information sharing system
- Article 86 – Representation
- Section 6 – Delegated and implementing acts
- Article 87 – Exercise of the delegation
- Article 88 – Committee procedure
Art. 16 DSA
Notice and action mechanisms
- Providers of hosting services shall put mechanisms in place to allow any individual or entity to notify them of the presence on their service of specific items of information that the individual or entity considers to be illegal content. Those mechanisms shall be easy to access and user-friendly, and shall allow for the submission of notices exclusively by electronic means.
- The mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1 shall be such as to facilitate the submission of sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated notices. To that end, the providers of hosting services shall take the necessary measures to enable and to facilitate the submission of notices containing all of the following elements:
(a) a sufficiently substantiated explanation of the reasons why the individual or entity alleges the information in question to be illegal content;
(b) a clear indication of the exact electronic location of that information, such as the exact URL or URLs, and, where necessary, additional information enabling the identification of the illegal content adapted to the type of content and to the specific type of hosting service;
(c) the name and email address of the individual or entity submitting the notice, except in the case of information considered to involve one of the offences referred to in Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU;
(d) a statement confirming the bona fide belief of the individual or entity submitting the notice that the information and allegations contained therein are accurate and complete. - Notices referred to in this Article shall be considered to give rise to actual knowledge or awareness for the purposes of Article 6 in respect of the specific item of information concerned where they allow a diligent provider of hosting services to identify the illegality of the relevant activity or information without a detailed legal examination.
- Where the notice contains the electronic contact information of the individual or entity that submitted it, the provider of hosting services shall, without undue delay, send a confirmation of receipt of the notice to that individual or entity.
- The provider shall also, without undue delay, notify that individual or entity of its decision in respect of the information to which the notice relates, providing information on the possibilities for redress in respect of that decision.
- Providers of hosting services shall process any notices that they receive under the mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1 and take their decisions in respect of the information to which the notices relate, in a timely, diligent, non- arbitrary and objective manner. Where they use automated means for that processing or decision-making, they shall include information on such use in the notification referred to in paragraph 5.