{"id":17027,"date":"2020-08-02T21:41:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T19:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/?p=17027"},"modified":"2024-10-25T20:29:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T18:29:50","slug":"p2b-regulation-adapt-platform-services-search-engines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/2020\/08\/p2b-regulation-adapt-platform-services-search-engines\/","title":{"rendered":"P2B Regulation &#8211; How to adapt Platform services and Search Engines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong> Since 12 July 2020, <strong>new rules<\/strong> apply for <strong>platform service providers<\/strong> and <strong>search engine operators<\/strong> \u2013 irrespective of whether they are established in the EU or not. The transition period has run out. This article provides <strong>checklists<\/strong> for platform service providers and search engine operators on <strong>how to adapt their services<\/strong> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%253A32019R1150\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Regulation (EU) 2019\/1150<\/a> on the promotion of fairness and transparency for commercial users of online intermediation services \u2013 the <strong>P2B Regulation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The P2B Regulation <strong>applies<\/strong> to platform service providers and search engine operators, wherever established, provided <strong>only two conditions<\/strong> are met:<\/p>\n<p>(i) the <strong>commercial users<\/strong> (for online intermediation services) or the users with a company website (for online search engines) are <strong>established in the EU; and<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(ii) the users <strong>offer their goods\/services to consumers<\/strong> located <strong>in the EU<\/strong> for at least part of the transaction.<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, there is a <strong>need for adaption for<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Online intermediation services, e.g. online marketplaces, app stores, hotel and other travel booking portals, social media, and<\/li>\n<li>Online search engines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The P2B Regulation applies to platforms in the <strong>P2B2C business<\/strong> in the following constellation (i.e. pure B2B platforms are exempt):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>P<\/strong>rovider -&gt; <strong>B<\/strong>usiness -&gt; <strong>C<\/strong>onsumer<\/p>\n<p>The article follows up on the introduction to the P2B Regulation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/2019\/03\/european-regulation-p2b-platform-to-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a> and the detailed analysis of mediation as method of dispute resolution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/2020\/05\/eu-regulation-2019-1150-online-intermediation-services-mediation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<strong>Checklist how to adapt the general terms and conditions of platform services<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Online intermediation services must adapt their <strong>general terms and conditions <\/strong>\u2013 defined as (i) conditions \/ provisions that regulate the contractual relationship between the provider of online intermediation services and their business users and (ii) are unilaterally determined by the provider of online intermediation services.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>checklist<\/strong> shows the <strong>new main requirements to be observed <\/strong>in the general terms and conditions (\u201cGTC\u201d):<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Draft them in plain and intelligible language (Article 3.1 a)<\/li>\n<li>Make them easily available at any time (also before conclusion of contract) (Article\u00a03.1 b)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on reasons for suspension \/ termination (Article 3.1 c)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on additional sales channels or partner programs (Article 3.1 d)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on the effects of the GTC on the IP rights of users (Article 3.1 e)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on (any!) changes to the GTC on a durable medium, user has the right of termination (Article 3.2)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on main parameters and relative importance in the ranking (incl. possible influence of remuneration), without algorithms or business secrets (Article 5.1, 5.3, 5.5)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on the type of any ancillary goods\/services offered and any entitlement\/condition that users offer their own goods\/services (Article 6)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on possible differentiated treatment of goods \/ services of the provider or individual users towards other users (Article 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)<\/li>\n<li>No retroactive changes to the GTC (Article 8a)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on conditions under which users can terminate contract (Article 8b)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on available or non-available technical and contractual access to information that the Service maintains after contract termination (Article 8c)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on technical and contractual access or lack thereof for users to any data made available or generated by them or by consumers during the use of services (Article\u00a09)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on reasons for possible restrictions on users to offer their goods\/services elsewhere under other conditions (&#8220;best price clause&#8221;); reasons must also be made easily available to the public (Article 10)<\/li>\n<li>Inform on access to the internal complaint-handling system (Article 11.3)<\/li>\n<li>Indicate at least two mediators for any out-of-court settlement of disputes (Article 12)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These <strong>requirements<\/strong> \u2013 apart from the clear, understandable language of the GTC, their availability and the fundamental ineffectiveness of retroactive adjustments to the GTC \u2013 <strong>clearly go beyond<\/strong> what e.g. the already strict German law on general terms and conditions requires.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Checklist how to adapt the design of platform services and search engines<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In addition, <strong>online intermediation services and online search engines must adapt their design<\/strong> and, among other things, introduce internal complaint-handling. The checklist shows the main design requirements for:<\/p>\n<p><strong>a) Online intermediation services<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Make identity of commercial user clearly visible (Article 3.5)<\/li>\n<li>State reasons for suspension \/ limitation \/ termination of services (Article 4.1, 4.2)<\/li>\n<li>Explain possible differentiated treatment of goods \/ services of providers themselves or users in relation to other users (Article 7.1, 7.2, 7.3), see above<\/li>\n<li>Set an internal complaint handling system, with publicly available info, annual updates (Article 11, 4.3)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>b) Online search engines<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Explain the ranking\u2019s main parameters and their relative importance, public, easily available, always up to date (incl. possible influence of remuneration), without algorithms or trade secrets (Article 5.2, 5.3, 5.5)<\/li>\n<li>If ranking changes or delistings occur due to notification by third parties: offer to inspect such notification (Article 5.4)<\/li>\n<li>Explain possible differentiated treatment of goods \/ services of providers themselves or users in relation to other users (Article 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The European Commission will provide <strong>guidelines regarding the ranking rules<\/strong> in Article\u00a05, as announced in the P2B Regulation \u2013 see the overview <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/digital-single-market\/en\/news\/ranking-transparency-guidelines-framework-eu-regulation-platform-business-relations-explainer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>. At the same time, providers of online intermediation services and online search engines shall draw up <strong>codes of conduct<\/strong> together with their users.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Practical Tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Regulation <strong>significantly affects contractual freedom<\/strong> as it obliges platform services to adapt their general terms and conditions.<\/li>\n<li>The Regulation is <strong>to be enforced<\/strong> by &#8220;representative organisations&#8221; or associations and public bodies, with the EU Member States ensuring adequate and effective enforcement. The <strong>European Commission will monitor<\/strong> the impact of the Regulation in practice and evaluate it for the first time on 13.01.2022 (and every three years thereafter).<\/li>\n<li><strong>The P2B Regulation<\/strong> may <strong>affect distribution relationships<\/strong>, in particular platforms as distribution intermediaries. Under German distribution law, platforms and other Internet intermediation services acting as authorised distributors may be entitled to a goodwill indemnity at termination (details <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/2020\/02\/germany-distribution-franchise-agreements-goodwill-indemnity-termination\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>) if they disclose their distribution channels on the basis of corresponding platform general terms and conditions, as the Regulation does not require, but at least allows to do (see also: <em>Rohr\u00dfen<\/em>, ZVertriebsR\u00a02019, 341, 344\u2013346). In addition, there are numerous overlaps with antitrust, competition and data protection law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: Since 12 July 2020, new rules apply for platfo [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,812,245],"tags":[2124],"class_list":["post-17027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-distribution-agreements","category-alternative-dispute-resolution","category-ecommerce","tag-europe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17027"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17029,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17027\/revisions\/17029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalmondo.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}