29/09/2021 (Agence Europe) – Representatives of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector have called on the European Parliament, in a joint statement issued on Wednesday 29 September, to lighten the rules of the forthcoming Digital Services Act (DSA) for SMEs (see EUROPE 12800/7). In particular, the signatories state that the discussions in the European Parliament “overlook the existence of low-risk online business models widely used by the European SMEs”. The signatories also expressed their fear that the future regulation will result in “a legislation that will be essentially designed for large open/third-party online platforms” as “it will be easier for these large operators to adapt to and apply the rules than for their smaller competitors”. “To support the EU’s objective of helping European SMEs to thrive online, these models need a differentiated and lighter treatment”, the signatories summarise. See the joint statement: https://bit.ly/2Y7TpLW (TM)