Application of the EU P2B Regulation
Application of the EU P2B Regulation
Authors: Sofia Athanasaki, Orestis Mylonas – Lekkas, KG Law Firm
Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (“P2B Regulation”), issued on 20 June 2019, refers to businesses dealing with online intermediation services and businesses whose websites are ranked by online search engines and aims to ensure more transparent conditions in the marketplace. In the context of the online platform economy, the growing dependence of business users, established in the EU, on online intermediation services and search engines (hereinafter “platforms”), such as online advertisement providers and search engines, auction websites, e-commerce/marketplaces, travel and hospitality platforms, software application stores, social media, etc., through which the former are selling goods and/or services to consumers across EU, created the ground for the issuance of said Regulation.
P2B Regulation’s key objective is to ban unfair practices and establish fairness and transparency conditions and prerequisites regarding the commercial interaction between business users and platforms.
As of 12 July 2020, the Regulation is directly applicable in all EU Member States. In Greece, the adoption of additional provisions regulating certain aspects that are not completely covered within the Regulation’s content is to be expected.
The P2B has set a number of prerequisites for platforms, most importantly relating to terms and conditions, updating the description of existing ranking parameters, data access rules, the need for establishment of an internal complaint-handling system and easiness of P2B’s enforceability in Member States.
In particular, as per the Regulation, a provider of online intermediation services:
|
Terms and Conditions (Art. 3) |
Shall ensure that terms and conditions are easily available to business users, in plain language. Shall notify changes in the terms and conditions to business users at least 15 days before they are implemented and shall be accompanied by a right for business users to terminate the contract if they do not agree to the proposed changes. |
|
Termination of Services (Art. 4) |
Where it is decided to terminate its services to a certain business user, it must provide for a (at least) 30 days’ notice period and a statement of reasons for such decision. |
|
Ranking – Transparency (Art. 5) |
Must set out in its terms and conditions an up-to-date description of the main parameters determining platform’s rankings. In cases where ranking may anyway be influenced by remuneration, a description of the effects of such remuneration should be equally provided. |
|
Differentiated Treatment (Art. 7) |
Shall include in its terms and conditions a description of any differentiated treatment in relation to its own group of company’s goods or services offered to consumers. |
|
Access to Data (Art. 9) |
Shall include in its terms and conditions a description of what data is collected and how this data is used. |
|
Internal Complaint-Handling System (Art. 11) |
Needs to establish an internal complaint handling system to enable business users to lodge complaints directly with the platform in relation to technical issues and in case of non-compliance with the P2B Regulation. |
This Regulation marks the first step toward a fairer marketplace environment and is to be seen in the context of a number of actions for regulating online marketplaces (see also, inter alia, the public consultation of the European Commission launched in June on the Digital Services Act and the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy which monitors the evolution of the platform economy).
Authors: Sofia Athanasaki, Orestis Mylonas – Lekkas, KG Law Firm
Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (“P2B Regulation”), issued on 20 June 2019, refers to businesses dealing with online intermediation services and businesses whose websites are ranked by online search engines and aims to ensure more transparent conditions in the marketplace. In the context of the online platform economy, the growing dependence of business users, established in the EU, on online intermediation services and search engines (hereinafter “platforms”), such as online advertisement providers and search engines, auction websites, e-commerce/marketplaces, travel and hospitality platforms, software application stores, social media, etc., through which the former are selling goods and/or services to consumers across EU, created the ground for the issuance of said Regulation.
P2B Regulation’s key objective is to ban unfair practices and establish fairness and transparency conditions and prerequisites regarding the commercial interaction between business users and platforms.
As of 12 July 2020, the Regulation is directly applicable in all EU Member States. In Greece, the adoption of additional provisions regulating certain aspects that are not completely covered within the Regulation’s content is to be expected.
The P2B has set a number of prerequisites for platforms, most importantly relating to terms and conditions, updating the description of existing ranking parameters, data access rules, the need for establishment of an internal complaint-handling system and easiness of P2B’s enforceability in Member States.
In particular, as per the Regulation, a provider of online intermediation services:
|
Terms and Conditions (Art. 3) |
Shall ensure that terms and conditions are easily available to business users, in plain language. Shall notify changes in the terms and conditions to business users at least 15 days before they are implemented and shall be accompanied by a right for business users to terminate the contract if they do not agree to the proposed changes. |
|
Termination of Services (Art. 4) |
Where it is decided to terminate its services to a certain business user, it must provide for a (at least) 30 days’ notice period and a statement of reasons for such decision. |
|
Ranking – Transparency (Art. 5) |
Must set out in its terms and conditions an up-to-date description of the main parameters determining platform’s rankings. In cases where ranking may anyway be influenced by remuneration, a description of the effects of such remuneration should be equally provided. |
|
Differentiated Treatment (Art. 7) |
Shall include in its terms and conditions a description of any differentiated treatment in relation to its own group of company’s goods or services offered to consumers. |
|
Access to Data (Art. 9) |
Shall include in its terms and conditions a description of what data is collected and how this data is used. |
|
Internal Complaint-Handling System (Art. 11) |
Needs to establish an internal complaint handling system to enable business users to lodge complaints directly with the platform in relation to technical issues and in case of non-compliance with the P2B Regulation. |
This Regulation marks the first step toward a fairer marketplace environment and is to be seen in the context of a number of actions for regulating online marketplaces (see also, inter alia, the public consultation of the European Commission launched in June on the Digital Services Act and the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy which monitors the evolution of the platform economy).
