Today, the European Commission gave Portugal two months to comply with the new European Union (EU) Digital Services Law, applicable to digital platforms, arguing that the country has not yet appointed coordinators or defined rules for sanctions.
In a statement, the EU said:
“Today, the European Commission decided to send reasoned opinions to the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Portugal, following the formal notification letters sent in April 2024, [because] despite the exchanges carried out since April, these member states have not yet empowered their designated digital service coordinators to apply the Digital Services Act.”
As part of the monthly package of infringements, the EU executive adds that these three countries “have also not defined the rules on sanctions applicable in case of infringement” of the legislation.
Portugal and the other two countries now have two months to adopt the necessary measures to comply with the reasoned opinions, and in the absence of satisfactory responses, the European Commission may refer the Member States to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Under the Digital Services Act, member states had until the 17th of February 2024, to designate national coordinators, independent regulatory authorities to oversee the implementation and enforcement of this regulation, created to impose rules on online platforms to make the online space safer in the EU.
Among other tasks, these national coordinators of digital services will be responsible for hearing and analyzing complaints from users against the platforms.
The EU has become, since the end of last August and after a period of adaptation, the first jurisdiction in the world with rules for digital platforms such as X, Facebook and Instagram, which are now obliged to remove illegal content.
Companies that do not comply with this new legislation may have fines proportional to their size, and larger companies may be sanctioned up to 6% of their global turnover.
These obligations are due to the entry of the Digital Services Act in the EU, under which the Commission defined 19 very large online platforms, with 45 million monthly active users, which will have to comply with the new rules.
The new Digital Services Act was created to protect the fundamental rights of online users and has become an unprecedented legislation for the digital space that holds platforms accountable for illegal and harmful content, including disinformation.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
