Digital Services Act Tracker and UK Online Safety Act
The DSA amends and updates the eCommerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market). The objective of the DSA is to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and provide for enhanced user rights. Member States are now in the process of transposing the DSA into their national law, which must be completed by 17 February 2024 (the date the DSA will apply to all intermediary service providers in scope).
While the DSA is not effective in the UK, the Online Safety Act 2023 ("OSA”) deals with similar themes to those of the DSA, and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023.
The Bird & Bird Digital Services Act Tracker which also addresses the UK Online Safety Act, provides essential information to help businesses to monitor introduction of national law to give effect to the DSA, as well as the status of the OSA. Regarding the DSA, it also addresses the appointment of the relevant regulators (called the Digital Service Coordinators) in each jurisdiction. Digital Service Coordinators are primarily responsible for supervision and enforcement of the DSA. The European Commission has primary regulatory responsibility in the case of very large online platforms and very large online search engines that have on average more than 45 million users a month, though Digital Services Coordinators will also have a part in regulating VLOPs and VLOSEs.
The implementation tracker will track the appointments of trusted flaggers. Trusted flaggers will be appointed from 17 February 2024 by Digital Services Coordinators. Trusted flaggers are given special status in the DSA, with access to a special channel to report illegal content to which platforms will have to react with priority.
Please contact us if you would like help preparing for the DSA or OSA.
Key
| Status | |
|---|---|
| National implementation legislation enacted | |
| UK legislation dealing with the same subject matter | |
| National implementation process underway (consultation or draft legislation published) | |
| National implementation process not yet started | |
| Trusted Flagger appointed | |
The Bird & Bird DSA Implementation Tracker is based on information from public sources that are regularly checked. The information provided may not be fully complete or up to date.
The DSA is a transformative piece of legislation, requiring intermediary service providers to introduce significant changes to, among other things, their terms and conditions, transparency, internal processes and procedures and user interfaces (where applicable). With the DSA, users have enhanced rights, including the right to receive a statement of reasons where their content is restricted or removed and to access a newly required complaint-handling system.
See more information on the DSA in our articles:
- Digital Services Act (DSA) - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
- First important compliance deadline for Very Large players under the Digital Services Act - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
- Digital Services Act - Tackling disinformation & improving mental wellbeing: key takeaways from DSA stakeholder event - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
- Irish Government has published The General Scheme of the Digital Services Bill 2023 - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
- The Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 – a new framework for the regulation of harmful online content in Ireland - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
- Online safety: UK proposes equivalent legislation to EU's Digital Services Act - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
- New safety rules set to apply to all digital service providers
- Which countries have appointed their Digital Services Coordinators under the DSA?
- The Irish Digital Services Act 2024 – The DSA is now fully enforceable in Ireland
- Digital Services Act enters into force
- The Digital Services Act in Ireland: Levies
