Digital Services Act: what will change for EU citizens

On December 15, 2020, at the end of a year marked by the coronavirus and the rise of digital services, Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, and Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market and Digital Affairs, unveiled two legislative texts aimed at putting an end to what Breton calls the "Digital Wild West".

The first, the Digital Services Act (DSA), completes and clarifies a directive dating bacck to 2000. The objective of the DSA is to update the rules of the E-commerce Directive to better meet the issues raised by the development of new digital services. The second text is the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to address the negative consequences of platforms acting as digital “gatekeepers”.

The Commission is developing its new approach to digital services with a mantra: "What is illegal offline is also illegal online". What will change for users?

Behind this objective, and while tough negotiations have opened in Brussels since the presentation of the DSA, it is necessary to discuss the major issues behind this piece of legislation and the way in which users could be impacted.

The end of illegal products and content

Very soon, the Digital Services Act should put an end to the online proliferation of illegal content, including goods sold through eCommerce.?The DSA will apply in all EU countries without the need to be transposed into national law.

Confronted with the urgency of this regulation, several states are planning to anticipate the directive through national laws. This strong political will suggests that the battle against illegal content will have tangible effects for consumers.

From an e-commerce perspective,?the application of the DSA will have both online and offline effects. Online, some e-commerce sites will have to be more careful about the products they host. And catalogs that used to mix authorized and counterfeit products will have to evolve to make the latter disappear.

At the same time, an effect on the ability of platforms to engage consumers will likely be observed: some of them, well known for their very competitive prices, will be more impacted. And it will also have an effect on physical stores by making price competitiveness one of the major challenges, with online platforms pulling prices down.

While the regulation of content on platforms will incite debate, the example of e-commerce suggests that the first effect of the DSA will be visible as soon as it is implemented.?Indeed, the scope of the legislation and its legally binding nature will encourage companies to anticipate these transformations.

Transparency and interoperability

Beyond illegal content and products, the DSA is governed by two principles that will gradually change the way all users interact with digital services. Transparency and interoperability will, in fact, become prerequisites for services aimed at EU citizens.

The word "transparency" has become a major issue in public debate, but it takes on its full importance when it comes to digital services. Why am I seeing this ad? Why should someone who owns a smartphone of a certain brand be forced to store their photos in the cloud belonging to that same brand? The information passed on by service providers to end users is poor. The issue is rather that we depend too much on algorithms and there is not enough control.

In the future, DSA enforcement will require digital service providers to incorporate information about how their tools work and to keep consumers as well informed as possible. This will affect the way web pages are displayed, the information you receive when browsing, and ultimately the services you trust. This is for example the case of tracking cookies, which can no longer be used without the user's consent.

The other major change stems from the European scope of the legislation: harmonizing measures across the EU will create the conditions for interoperability of digital services. It will take longer to implement, but its effect on citizens will be major. A concrete example of this principle is the roaming and internet access from any country in the EU at no extra cost to the consumer.

From digital services to digital markets

In the near future, thanks to the DSA, users will have more power and ability to choose between digital services. Ultimately, this will lead to a better understanding of our digital habits. Like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which put the topic of personal data on the table, the ultimate effect of the DSA will be to make people question how much they trust and empower digital services and platforms.

While the DSA aims to regulate the entire digital sphere, the legislation also also addresses the ?power of the tech giants. The Commission is not unaware of this issue, as it has devised various obligations towards them. And because this issue is so important, it has devoted an entire piece of legislation to it, the Digital Markets Act.