The Council of the EU is expecting complex inter-institutional negotiations on the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 12835/7) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 12830/9). At least, this is what was reported on Friday 19 November by several sources close to the case.
“DSA is a complicated horizontal issue. In Parliament, there seems to be a series of additions to what the text should cover. There is talk of regulating dangerous products, targeted advertising, online anonymity and transparency of algorithms, but these topics have not been presented to the EU Council. There is a gap”, explained a diplomatic source.
“We don’t expect to cover everything in the DSA; with regard to some aspects, we already have instruments at our disposal. Are we going to overdo it? That is not what the co-legislators want”, she added.
Are we already seeing prolonged discussions between the Council of the EU and Parliament? “It is a risk, but if that’s the case, it’s because the Parliament will have a list of things to negotiate. Choices will have to be made”, summarised another diplomatic source.
Regarding the DMA, which seems to be progressing much faster than the DSA in Parliament, a number of issues will also need to be resolved.
“It would appear that Parliament is extending some of the obligations of gatekeepers in relation to favouritism for certain applications. The objective is to focus on providing fair content, but the EU Council has managed to stay fairly close to the Commission’s position”, said the same source.
The Ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) adopted, on Wednesday 17 November, a political agreement in principle (‘general approach’) on the text of the Digital Services Act. The ‘general approach’ for the DMA had been adopted a week earlier.
These issues will be put on the agenda of the next Competitiveness Council, which will take place on 25 November. The Ministers for the Internal Market and Industry are expected to agree on a general approach for both texts.
In the European Parliament, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) will vote on Monday 22 November, in the margins of the plenary session, on the report by German MEP Andreas Schwab (EPP) regarding the DMA. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)