EuroISPA co-signs letter calling for the preservation of the key principles of the E-Commerce Directive in the DSA

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Brussels, 8 July 2021 – EuroISPA joins other industry players in signing a letter calling for the preservation of the E-Commerce Directive principles in the DSA.

The signatories note their support of an ambitious DSA and its objectives to protect consumers, while favouring innovation, growth, and competitiveness. However, the letter also highlights their concern that several Member States have questioned some of the key principles of the E-Commerce Directive, which are crucial elements of the European digital economy.

The letter calls for:

  • A clear distinction between illegal and harmful but legal content
  • The preservation of the limited liability regime
  • The upholding of the prohibition of general monitoring obligations
  • The maintenance of the country of origin principle
  • The limiting of web-blocking obligations
Joint industry letter calling for preservation of E-Commerce Directive key principles in DSADownload

EuroISPA welcomes new member, Cambium Networks

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Brussels, 6 July 2021 – EuroISPA, a pan-European association of Internet Services Providers Associations welcomes a new Forum member: Cambium Networks, an infrastructure provider which offers wireless connectivity to people worldwide.

EuroISPA represents Internet Services Providers (ISPs) across the European continent, creating a common voice aimed at promoting and protecting the interests of its members. Active since 1997, EuroISPA acts as un ‘umbrella’ association representing ISP associations on policy and legislative issues and facilitates the exchange of best practices between members. EuroISPA’s Industry Forum allows companies with a legitimate interest in the Internet industry to participate in EuroISPA’s activities, acting in an advisory capacity and providing input on relevant policy issues.

Alexandra Laffitte, President of EuroISPA, stated: “We are delighted that Cambium Networks is joining our community as a new member. EuroISPA represents the common voice of European Internet Services Providers, and the valuable addition to our membership of Cambium Networks strengthens our position as a prominent stakeholder representative body in the sector.”

Cambium Networks provides advanced wireless communication network infrastructure to private network operators in the business, including education and hospitality, local and national government, defense, and industrial markets, in addition to the broadband Internet Service Provider community supported by EuroISPA. Cambium Networks’ end-to-end solutions include Fixed 5G, 60 GHz mmWave networks capable of delivering multiple gigabits of data wirelessly to the edge, and indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi 6, among others. 

Martín de la Serna, Vice President for Europe, Middle East, and Africa of Cambium Networks said: “Cambium Networks is pleased to join EuroISPA as a Forum Member and collaborate with EuroISPA to further its critical mission. Internet Service Providers and policymakers across Europe find themselves at a unique inflection point marked by rapid services evolution, promise and potential and can benefit greatly from EuroISPA’s leadership. Cambium Networks, as a leading technology supplier to wireless internet service providers around the globe, looks forward to supporting EuroISPA and its stakeholders as Europe advances towards its Gigabit Decade goals.”

EuroISPA Annual Policy Report 2020

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June 29th 2021 – EuroISPA is delighted to launch its Annual Policy Report 2020, which provides an overview of the principal activities of 2020 and insights into the policy focus areas of the Association.

Whilst the past year presented many challenges and obstacles across the globe and across industries, EuroISPA was able to maintain its momentum on priority files such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which was unveiled in December 2020, and other issues such as Cooperation with Law Enforcement, Data Protection, Safer Internet, and Cybersecurity, among many others. EuroISPA is happy to have provided members with the key information on the legislative developments at EU level, and to have contributed to the discussions around policies that will have long-lasting impacts on the sector.

We hope you enjoy reading this Annual Policy Report, that it offers useful and interesting insights into the ongoing work of our association, and that it reflects the commitment and passion of our members to help shape sustainable and appropriate policies for the ISP sector.

Happy reading!

EuroISPA Annual Policy Report 2020Download

Recap of Past Event: Beyond Content Removal

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On 17 May 2021 EuroISPA hosted its second online event in the DSA in Focus series, which focused on provisions in the Digital Services Act (DSA) going beyond the notice and action processes, such as measures on codes of conduct, the know your business customer principle, trusted flaggers, and risk mitigation for very large online platforms (VLOPs). You can watch the full recording of the event here or below.

The event, which was made possible by LINX, featured a distinguished expert panel which examined the topic in great detail. It included Mr Prabhat Agarwal, Head of Unit in charge of E-Commerce and Platforms at DG CNECT in the European Commission, Mr Marco Pancini, Director of Public Policy at YouTube, as well as Ms Heleen Uijt de Haag, Deputy Director at the Dutch Digital Economy Department within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. EuroISPA’s President Alexandra Laffitte moderated the panel, whilst Malcolm Hutty, Chair of EuroISPA’s Intermediary Liability, framed the conversation with introductory remarks.

Malcolm Hutty opened the session with several questions for the panel and general remarks. He welcomed the KYBC’s focus on marketplaces, and stressed the importance of codes of conduct. When it comes to the role of trusted flaggers, he challenged the proposal, asking whether the “concept loses value if the right to decide who is trusted is removed from the operator”. As regards risk mitigation and VLOPs, he stressed that the provision, as currently drafted, would risk to create uncertainty for businesses, as the list of risks is currently open ended.

When illustrating the Commission’s chosen regulatory approach, Prabhat Agarwal recognised the success of self-regulation in addressing emerging phenomena swiftly. However, he explained that the limitations of self-regulation have made it necessary to make binding some of the existing voluntary frameworks. In this respect he noted: “We continue to think that coregulation plays a crucial role and the DSA is not the end of it”.

Marco Pancini provided the audience with interesting details about YouTube’s trusted flaggers’ programme. He said that, thanks to such systems, whenever platforms receive referrals from experts these are taken into account with the appropriate level of priority. He pointed out that “YouTube’s  goal is to leverage positive exchanges with experts, improving the quality of our content moderation activities”.

Heleen Uijt de Haag welcomed the Commission’s proposal, describing it as well-balanced. She appreciated that the main principles of the E-Commerce Directive, such as the limited liability for service providers and the county of origin principle, are maintained. When referring to the topic of trusted flaggers, she said that “we need safeguards to ensure the mechanisms are not abused, as this could have detrimental effects on freedom of speech online, and the right to privacy”.

Panellists then had an open discussion with the audience, focussing on issues such as the modalities to appoint trusted flaggers, the know your business principle, and ways to tackle disinformation in the context of the current pandemic.

EuroISPA would like to extend its gratitude to the speakers for sharing their insights on the new DSA, contributing to yet another successful DSA in Focus event. We look forward to our third session, which will take place in June, and which will focus on reporting obligations and transparency in the context of the DSA.

For further information on the upcoming events visit our dedicated webpage on euroispa.org/dsa-in-focus. 

DSA in Focus: Beyond Content Removal

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Join us for our upcoming online panel discussion of our 2021 series DSA in Focus: Beyond Content Removal. This is the second in a series of six events running from April until the end of 2021, in which we will be exploring and debating the main aspects of the Digital Services Act with policy experts. To secure a spot, please register here.

After our first event, which focused on notice and action procedures, our second panel discussion will examine measures going beyond content removal.

Our panellists, hailing from the public and the private sector, will talk about the DSA provisions on codes of conduct, the know your business customer principle, trusted flaggers, and risk mitigation for very large online platforms. They will debate the objectives of these measures, practical challenges for implementation, and possible ways forward.

As the Council and the European Parliament are intensifying discussions on the DSA, this event will provide an opportunity for an exchange of ideas between policymakers, civil society, and industry representatives.

Programme:

  • Opening remarks: Mr Malcolm Hutty, Chair of EuroISPA’s Intermediary Liability Committee
  • Moderation: Ms Alexandra Laffitte, President of EuroISPA
  • Round-table discussion with:
    • Mr Prabhat Agarwal, Head of Unit, E-Commerce and Platforms, DG CNECT, European Commission
    • Mr Marco Pancini, Director Public Policy at YouTube
    • Ms Heleen Uijt de Haag, Deputy Director Digital Economy Department, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, The Netherlands
  • Q&A with audience
  • Closing remarks

Don’t miss out, secure a spot here!

EuroISPA criticises strict one-hour takedown deadline in the new Terrorist Content Regulation

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April 30 2021 – Brussels

Following last week’s adoption of the EU Regulation to prevent the dissemination of terrorist content online by the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs), the Regulation has now been adopted by the Plenary in second reading, without a final vote.  

Malcolm Hutty, Chair of the Intermediary Liability Committee, commented: “While we welcome several improvements in the final text, EuroISPA regrets the inclusion of an inflexible one-hour timeframe to execute removal orders. Forcing companies to move too fast will inevitably impair the quality of decisions and will risk inappropriate removals of legitimate content and mis-use of the system. This will be especially problematic for smaller businesses without previous experience of encountering terrorist content, who will not have pre-existing relationships with anti-terrorist police and awareness of good practice guidance.”  

EuroISPA also notes that the text could be attacked at the domestic level leading to legal uncertainty for service providers. For instance, the final Regulation contains provisions which are similar to the rules established by the French Law on tackling hate speech online (so called “Avia law”), which were declared to be unconstitutional by the French Constitutional Council in 2020.  

At the same time, EuroISPA notes some important positive changes in the final text. For instance, penalties determined by Member States will need to take into account the nature and size of the hosting service provider, mitigating risks of high sanctions for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). “It was important that the regulation does not stipulate obligations to use automatic tools and pursue active content monitoring. However, we will have to observe how the relevant rules will turn out in practice”, said Malcolm Hutty.  

Going forward, EuroISPA’s national members will maintain a constructive dialogue with their respective Competent Authorities and will keep tackling terrorist content online efficiently and responsibly, in order to ensure a safe Internet for EU citizens and businesses.   

EuroISPA shares its views on the Digital Services Act

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Brussels, 31 March 2021 – EuroISPA publishes its views on the Digital Services Act, reflecting the views of the European Internet industry.

EuroISPA is the voice of the European Internet industry, representing over 2,000 Internet Service Providers across Europe, all along the Internet value chain. As we have been engaging in discussions on intermediary liability and content moderation for over 20 years, EuroISPA is proud to share with the EU institutions and interested stakeholders its position on the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Overall, EuroISPA supports the DSA and its objectives to protect consumers and their fundamental rights online, to foster transparency and accountability of online platforms, and to favour innovation, growth, and competitiveness within the Single Market. In particular, we welcome the European Commission’s decision to adopt an evolutionary approach maintaining the key principles of the E-Commerce Directive, such as the limited exemption from secondary liability, while creating a due diligence framework for intermediary services.

At the same time, EuroISPA believes that several changes would be needed in order to achieve a regulation that truly fosters innovation and growth in the Digital Single Market. Therefore, EuroISPA put forward recommendations on every chapter of the DSA, spanning from the definition of online platforms, to intermediary liability provisions, from the due diligence rules, to the overall governance structure.

You can download our position below:

2103-EuroISPA-DSA-positionDownload

DSA in Focus: The New Notice and Action Regime

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Our first event in the DSA in Focus series, taking place on 7 April 2021 at 10h30 CEST, will examine the new provisions in the DSA aiming to improve the management of illegal content online.

We will discuss the new provision on own-voluntary investigations, the differences between general and specific monitoring, as well as the limited liability regime. Panellists will also share with the audience their views on the future harmonised notice-and-action procedures.

This debate will provide a platform to exchange informed perspectives between policymakers, civil society, and industry representatives.

Programme:

  • Opening remarks and moderation: Ms Alexandra Laffitte, President of EuroISPA
  • Round-table discussion with:
    • Ms Dita Charanzová, MEP, shadow rapporteur on the Digital Services Act
    • Ms Henna Virkkunen, MEP, rapporteur for opinion on the Digital Services Act
    • Mr Malcolm Hutty, Chair of EuroISPA’s Intermediary Liability Committee
    • Ms Iverna McGowan, Director at the Centre for Democracy and Technology
  • Q&A with audience
  • Closing remarks

To secure a spot, please register here.

NEWS: ePrivacy Regulation – EuroISPA welcomes progress but full alignment with GDPR remains crucial

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Brussels, 10 February 2021 – EuroISPA welcomes the conclusion of the discussions in Council on the ePrivacy Regulation. After over four years of complex deliberations, we are now looking forward to the start of the negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission. The current text is the first step towards greater legal clarity and interoperability between the ePrivacy Regulation and the GDPR regimes. This clarity is needed for businesses in Europe to plan, operate, and innovate as well as to allow for the commercial support of the free and open internet. We welcome the introduction of further compatible processing and the performance of a contract as legal grounds for metadata processing. We believe that these must be preserved during the future negotiations if we want to have a coherent and harmonised EU data framework which ensures legal certainty for European businesses. However, we consider that further work on the text is still necessary.

We regret that the Council agreed text reinstated a previous version of the “compliance with a legal obligation”, so restricting even further that legal ground and diverging from the GDPR.

In view of the negotiations, we would like to reiterate the key areas which are worth clarifying:

  • Material scope: We believe that to ensure consistency in the EU acquis, it would be necessary to further define the interplay with the GDPR and clarify when the GDPR stops applying and the ePrivacy starts.
  • B2B processing: In the business-to-business (B2B) context, providers of electronic communications services generally will not have a relationship with the end-users of their services. Clarification is therefore needed that, in such circumstances, consent can be provided by the enterprise customer.
  • Enforcement: There is a need to ensure that supervisory authorities, and enforcement and cooperation mechanisms are consistent with the GDPR standards. We need to avoid a situation where providers could be subject to oversight by multiple supervisory authorities for the same activities across the EU.
  • M2M processing: The application to machine-to-machine (M2M) communications must be limited in scope to high risk instances, instead of applying to any kind of such communications, so as to limit the risk of making a wide range of critical enterprise processes highly burdensome.
  • Privacy-preserving technologies: The industry strives to keep developing privacy-protective data processing alternatives (i.e. on-device machine learning, new aggregation techniques, and other privacy-enhancing advances). The ePrivacy Regulation should not restrict innovative and privacy-protective new approaches that are designed to benefit individuals and strengthen their privacy online.

We look forward to the beginning of the negotiations and we remain willing technical partners to the institutions in defending the much-needed flexibility on the legal basis and the interoperability with the GDPR.

Contact details

EuroISPA

38, Rue de la Loi
1000 Brussels

+32 2 789 6618

[email protected]

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