Digital Services and Markets Act (DSA/DMA)

On Tuesday 15 December, the European Commission presented its Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. These two acts will change a lot for all digital service providers (from TakeAway to Apple).

On behalf of the European Parliament, I was the only Dutch rapporteur on the initiative reports for the DSA and DMA. On this page, I will update you on my proposals and the process.

What are the Digital Services Act en Digital Markets Act?

Online platforms – such as search engines, social media and e-commerce platforms – play an increasingly important role in our social and economic life. However, the current EU rules on digital services have remained largely unchanged since the adoption of the e-commerce Directive in 2000 and there are major differences in the way the Directive has been implemented across the EU. This is why the European Commission presented the so-called Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act on 15 December 2020. Source: EPRS

Read here my proposal as LIBE-rapporteur for opinion

Read about my proposal to ban personalised ads

Timeline

April 6 2020

On April 6, the European Parliament published my draft report for the Digital Services Act (DSA). Writing a draft report is the very first step for newly appointed rapporteurs. After the publication of the report, the phase in which all political groups are allowed to table amendments begins, including myself as rapporteur.

July 16 2020

On July 16 2020, the LIBE Committee adopted my report with recommendations to the IMCO Committee.

October 20 2020

On October 20 2020, the European Parliament voted on the three main reports of the European Parliament. I negotiated the text of the IMCO Committee’s report on behalf of the LIBE Committee in Parliament. I also influenced the other two reports by the JURI and LIBE Committees by means of amendments. As S&D group we managed to get in a text which calls on the Commission ‘to assess options for regulating targeted advertising, including a phase-out leading to a ban.’

December 15 2020

On Tuesday December 15, Commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton presented their proposals for the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

After publication, the laws were formally sent to the Council of the European Union (‘the Council’) and to the European Parliament.

April 29 2021

The Conference of Presidents (CoP) of the European Parliament made a decision on which committees in the Parliament will have competences on the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA). The IMCO-committee is for both laws the lead committee.

The LIBE-committee got permission to draft an opinion report on the DSA (art. 57 Rules of Procedure) and an opinion report (art. 56) on the DMA. The ECON-committee will be drafting an opinion report on the DMA (art. 57).

Ongoing process

Once the Council and the Parliament have agreed on (amendments to) the legal texts, they will negotiate the final texts in so-called trilogue meetings (Council, Parliament and the European Commission). Once an agreement has been reached, the Council and Parliament still have to vote on the final text. The laws will then enter into force, which is expected to be in 2024.