Yesterday, 01 February 2023, the Commission published guidance on how online platforms and search engines within the scope of the Digital Services Act (DSA) should comply with their obligation to report user numbers in the EU. As highlighted in our recent update, the DSA requires providers of online platforms and of online search engines to publish, by 17 February 2023, information on the average monthly active recipients of their services in the EU, on their publicly available online interfaces. The number must be calculated as an average over the period of the past six months. Online platfor ..read more

Coimisiún na Meán (the Media Commission), is currently in the process of being established in accordance with the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act (OSMR). Further information on its establishment and the appointment of the first four commissioners to Coimisiún na Meán can be read here. In addition to its role as the supervisory authority under the OSMR and as Ireland’s Digital Services Coordinator under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Irish Government also plans to designate Coimisiún na Meán as the competent authority under the Terrorism Content Online Regulation (the TCO). What is ..read more

On 19 December 2022, the Commissioner for Internal Market of the EU published an update on the date when very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) will be required to comply with the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commissioner noted that VLOPs / VLOSEs will be required to comply with the new rules by no later than 1 September 2023. To meet the deadline the Commission would need to designate VLOPs and VLOSEs by 28 April 2023. Based on this update the current timeline of the DSA application is as on the graphic below. The DSA entered in ..read more

The Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 was signed into law on Saturday, 10 December 2022. Online safety is one of the headline items covered by the new legislation, and it will be overseen by the newly-established Media Commission (Coimisiún na Meán). The legislation also seeks to implement a number of other key legislative reforms including the transposition of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the alignment of the regulation of video on-demand services with traditional broadcasting (please see here for an overview of the OSMR Bill published earlier this year ..read more

The Digital Services Act (DSA) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union today. It will enter into force on 16 November 2022, i.e. 20 days from the date of publication in the Official Journal. Who will be affected? The DSA will apply to a range of providers of digital “intermediary services” (which will include mere conduit services, caching services and hosting services), where such services are offered to natural or legal person recipients that are established or located in the EU. Broadly, the obligations set out in the DSA are proportionate to the scale of the user base o ..read more

 Update on the Electoral Reform Act 2022 The Electoral Reform Act 2022 (the Act), brings about significant changes to the electoral system in Ireland. From the perspective of online platforms, Part 4 and Part 5 will be of key importance as they impose new obligations on platform providers to (i) ensure transparency in respect of online political advertising on their services; and (ii) to notify/take action in respect of dis/misinformation relating to online electoral processes on their services. While the Act was signed into law on 25 July 2022, only certain sections of the Act have been ..read more

The Digital Services Act (DSA), a major EU regulation for online content, was signed into law yesterday. The DSA together with the Digital Markets Act (the DMA) form part of an EU legislative strategy that seeks to create a level playing field for both big and small businesses in the digital world, create a harmonized approach to doing business online and to create a safer environment for users online. What ‘s new More particularly, the DSA aims to achieve the following objectives: Establish a powerful transparency and accountability framework for internet intermediaries: The DSA will hold i ..read more

We reported last year that the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) were progressing. The main hurdle to clear was sufficient countries ratifying the Protocol on the Provisional Application (PAP-Protocol) of the UPC Agreement to allow the provisional application period (PAP) to begin. On 27 September 2021 Germany ratified the PAP-Protocol and on 15 October 2021 Slovenia ratified the PAP-Protocol. The PAP-Protocol has entered into force The Preparatory Committee announced on 19 January 2022 the deposit by Austria of its ratification of the PAP-Protocol of the UPC Agreement. This was th ..read more

The Government has published the long anticipated Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 which it has hailed as a “watershed moment as we move from self-regulation to an era of accountability in online safety”. Online safety is one of the headline items, and it will be overseen by the newly-established Media Commission (Coimisiún na Meán). The Bill also seeks to implement a number of other key legislative reforms including the transposition of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the alignment of the regulation of video on-demand services with traditional broadcasting. Th ..read more

The new Enforcement and Modernisation Directive 2019/2161, more commonly known as the ‘Omnibus Directive’ (the Directive), aims to strengthen consumer rights through enhanced enforcement measures and increased transparency requirements. Key dates EU Member States must adopt national implementation measures by 28 November 2021. The new requirements set out in the Directive must then come into force by 28 May 2022. Who the Directive applies to Those engaged in online business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions as well as companies offering digital services to consumers where payment by the consumers ..read more