From 12 July 2020, the Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (Text with EEA relevance) shall apply.
The purpose of this Regulation is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market by laying down rules to ensure that business users of online intermediation services and corporate website users in relation to online search engines are granted appropriate transparency, fairness and effective redress possibilities.
This Regulation shall apply to online intermediation services, such as ecommerce marketplaces, app stores, online travel agents, and online search engines provided, or offered to be provided, to business users and corporate website users, respectively, that have their place of establishment or residence in the Union and that, through those online intermediation services or online search engines, offer goods or services to consumers located in the Union, irrespective of the place of establishment or residence of the providers of those services and irrespective of the law otherwise applicable.
The new Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 on platform-to-business relations requires online intermediation services, such as ecommerce marketplaces, app stores, online travel agents, to set out in their terms and conditions the main parameters determining ranking and the reasons for their relative importance. A similar obligation applies to online search engines.
In this regard, the EU Commission will produce guidelines to help online intermediation services and online search engines understand this obligation, before it starts to apply on 12 July 2020. The EU Commission would like to receive feedback and suggestions on the broad objectives of the ranking transparency guidelines before 12 December 2019, at this link.
However, please remember that Regulation shall not apply to online payment services or to online advertising tools or online advertising exchanges, which are not provided with the aim of the facilitating the initiation of direct transactions and which do not involve a contractual relationship with consumers.
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