Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Denmark), rapporteur in the European Parliament for the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 12924/17), briefed members of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on Wednesday 20 April on the state of play of the inter-institutional negotiations (‘trilogue’). The next trilogue will take place on Friday 22 April and will start at 10 am.
“We are making progress, both technically and politically. The trilogue on Friday will be an opportunity to really see what we can do in order to achieve”, Schaldemose said in a short speech.
“Many points and issues have already been discussed concerning derogations, SMEs, the crisis management tool and the governance structure, but given the critical point at which we are in the negotiations, I will avoid going into details”, she added, cautiously.
“Optimistic”, expecting a “positive outcome”, but refusing “to make promises”, the MEP left the door open on a possible agreement over the DSA being reached as early as next Friday. This confirms what a source close to the dossier told EUROPE at the end of the last trilogue. “The target date for an agreement is 22 or 28 April”, she said.
“There are still issues to be resolved, we are still waiting for some movement from the Council of the EU”, Schaldemose emphasised to IMCO committee members.
Among the issues still to be discussed, the question of banning targeted advertising to minors is likely to figure rather prominently.
On this issue, the European Parliament is defending a default ban on targeted advertising to minors, unless the platform is safe. The EU Council’s approach is different and is based on appropriate measures that are taken by platforms to protect minors.
In addition, the issue of “dark patterns”, which induce users to accept data collection or remain longer on a service, among other things, continues to remain a stumbling block.
While this subject is key to the European Parliament, the French Presidency of the EU Council has continued its work on this aspect. The latter approach would be based on platforms not being allowed to “ design”, “organise” or “operate” interfaces that would “ deliberately” mislead or manipulate users.
As for the EU Council, the DSA was also on the agenda of the meeting of Member States’ ambassadors to the EU on Wednesday 20 April. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)