Such inadequate state of legislation comes from the fact that the last European Union's legal act covering this matter comprehensively was created in 2000 – E-commerce Directive. Although other regulations, for example on copyright, also covered the matter indirectly, legislative initiatives regarding digital services presented by the European Commission on 15 December 2020 provide the first occasion for a wider debate how to restructure the regulatory environment of digital platforms.

That is why ZAPA take an active part in the discussion on the proposal for a Regulation on digital services at the national level and cooperates closely with the Digital Affairs Department in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. We provided two official positions and participated in several working meetings with stakeholders.

Our basic remarks are that it is no longer possible to perceive those entities as MSPs entering the market or start-ups. Hence the regulatory environment created more than two decades ago was to respond to completely different needs and problems than those we are facing today. That is why the most important element of the proposed Regulation should be an express conclusion that it is possible to invoke the liability exemptions only when the activity of the platform is limited to the technical process of operating and giving access to a communication network and is of mere automatic and passive nature. It is also crucial to introduce to the Digital Services Act a notice and stay down mechanism, which is the only one that can ensure effective removal of content infringing intellectual property rights in the digital world.

The full text of ZAPA’s positions addressed to the Minister of Digitization and the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki can be found here:

ZAPA’s initial position

ZAPA’s position on Chapter 1 and 2