France, Ireland support Digital Services Act
October 23, 2023
The Commission services have signed administrative arrangements with the media regulators of France (Autorité de regulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, Arcom) and Ireland (Coimisiún na Meán), to support its supervisory and enforcement powers under the Digital Services Act (DSA). These arrangements aim at developing expertise and capabilities and follow the Commission Recommendation to Member States for coordinating their response to the spread and amplification of illegal content on Very Large Online Platforms and Very Large Online Search Engines, ahead of the deadline for Member States to play their role in the enforcement of the DSA.
The DSA sets rules to shape a secure and trusted online environment in the EU. Ensuring closer cooperation with Member States and national regulatory authorities has become even more crucial to achieve this in the current context of conflict and uncertainty, particularly with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and now with the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel.
These bilateral arrangements will allow the Commission services and relevant national authorities to exchange information, data, good practices, methodologies, technical systems and tools. Effective cooperation will facilitate the Commission’s assessment of systemic risks, the identification of emerging ones, including risks related to the spread and amplification of illegal content, as well as other systemic risks under the DSA, such as the spreading of disinformation or the protection of minors.
The arrangements will be of particular importance until the establishment of the Board of Digital Services Coordinators, which is due for February 2023 and will be composed of independent Digital Service Coordinators of the Member States. Once the Board is operational, these arrangements will continue to provide an added value to organise the practical relationships between Commission services and national authorities in full compliance with the DSA.
Next steps
The Commission service responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the DSA, the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) is in discussions with other national regulators and EU bodies to sign similar administrative arrangements to support it in its assessment of systemic and emerging issues under the DSA. The Commission will announce them in due time.