EC Expected To Reject One-Size-Fits-All Online Platform Rules
The European Commission is expected to reject universal platform regulation in favor of a sector-specific approach, said Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe Vice President James Waterworth at a Tuesday briefing. The EC communication, to be released Wednesday, is likely to say Europe should be platform-innovative and back a level playing field, a meaningless term that raises concerns for CCIA, he said. In its briefing, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said it's worried a level playing field could be used to justify deregulation in some markets, and the online platform proposal could promote industry self-regulation to the detriment of users. And 14 EU governments asked the EC to take a light-touch approach to regulating online platforms. The original EC consultation on platforms attracted widespread criticism from telco, Internet, consumer and digital rights groups (see 1601110001).
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The EC proposals, part of its digital single-market strategy, also will tackle unjustified geo-blocking and audiovisual media services. The latter proposal is expected to require VOD providers to contribute to national funds that award grants to A/V producers and to respect the 20 percent quotas for European works, both of which CCIA opposes, said Public Policy Manager Maud Sacquet.
The EC isn't expected to re-open the e-commerce directive, which governs the responsibility and liability of hosting companies and online platforms, said Waterworth. The communication likely will commit the EC to examining whether relations between platforms and creators in the copyright arena are fair, he said. The commission also is considering whether certain types of video and content-sharing sites should be excluded from the e-commerce directive, meaning they would either be liable for infringements by their users or be treated as publishers who must obtain licenses from copyright owners, he said. There may also be a proposal to extend the e-privacy directive, which sets privacy rules for telcos, to online services, Waterworth said.
“It is vital for European competitiveness to take a positive approach to new advancements in digital technologies and business models," the 14 EU members wrote to the EU Netherlands Presidency before a May 26 meeting of telecom and competitiveness ministers. Online platforms offer new opportunities for consumers, businesses and content providers, and "we should welcome their contribution to innovation and refrain from one-size-fits-all regulation which would reduce competition and hamper innovation." Instead, governments should focus on enforcing existing consumer, antitrust, intellectual property and data protection rules, and take a balanced approach to intermediaries, they said. Signers represented Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the U.K.
The EC's evident intent to promote self-regulation to address platform issues "raises significant concerns from a consumer perspective given the non-binding, non-democratic and voluntary nature of business self-regulatory schemes, said BEUC. Creating a level playing field for different services that are considered to be equivalent or comparable, such as mobile telephony and Skype, is worrying, it said. While it makes sense to apply the same rules to services that are objectively the same from an economic, legal and consumer experience perspective, "it could be used as a justification to deregulate certain markets" such as telecom, which would harm consumers, it said.