Online platforms providing intermediation services between the sellers and buyers of goods and services must comply with new rules for traders, according to European Regulation 2019/1150, which comes into effect on 12 July.
The Regulation applies to online intermediation services and users of those services (companies or consumers) established within the European Union, as well as in cases where professional users of such sites are established within the European Union but use online intermediation services or online search engines to offer goods or services exclusively to consumers located outside of the European Union or to non-consumers.
The Regulation aims to create a transparent and fair framework for traders who use online platforms to sell their products and services.
It will apply whenever intermediation service providers use terms and conditions unilaterally established by the online intermediation service provider.
First and foremost, online platforms need to update their terms and conditions so that they are easy to understand and accessible at any point in the business relationship, including during the negotiation stages.
Changes to the terms and conditions must be notified to the trader at least 15 days in advance, and if they are not accepted the trader has the right to terminate the contract with the online intermediation services provider within 15 days of receiving notice of any such change.
The Regulation also stipulates other obligations for online platform administrators, e.g.:
- to present the hierarchy of products on the online platform
- to indicate situations in which the provision of services may be restricted, suspended or ceased
- to provide information about the conditions under which a contract may be terminated and what will happen to information obtained as a result of a trader’s activity on the platform following termination of the contractual relationship
- to provide information about any possible restrictions on the trader in terms of the ability to offer the same goods and services by means other than their sale through the platform, etc.
In the event of a termination of the contractual relationship at the initiative of the platform administrator, the latter will be required to state the grounds for doing so and to provide the trader with at least 30 days’ notice thereof.
Any terms and conditions considered non-compliant with the provisions of the regulation will be considered null and void.
In addition, intermediation platforms must provide traders with an internal complaints handling service, with mediation available as a means of resolving disputes between suppliers and users.
The authority responsible for the application of European Regulation 2019/1150 in Romania will be the Competition Council, and for certain types of violations said authority will be able to impose fines of up to 1% of a company’s turnover.
All the provisions contained within the Regulation will essentially be beneficial to traders, in that they are intended to prevent online platforms from abusing their privileged position.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the promotion of fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services.