Source: OJ L 277, 27/10/2022, p. 1–102Current language: EN
- Digital services act
Basic legislative acts
- DSA regulation
Article 31 Compliance by design
Summary What does Article 31 of the DSA regulation say?
This article sits within the section governing online platforms that allow consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders (online marketplaces), and it focuses on the design responsibilities of those platforms.
Rather than imposing obligations directly on traders, it requires the platforms themselves to ensure their interfaces are built in a way that makes it possible for traders to fulfil their own legal obligations — covering pre-contractual information, product safety, and compliance disclosures.
The article also places a due diligence obligation on platforms to check that traders have actually provided the required information, and to carry out random checks against official databases after traders are onboarded.
Important points:
- Ensure your online interface is designed to allow traders to supply pre-contractual, product safety, and compliance information as required under Union law, including trader identification details such as name, address, and contact information.
- Ensure your online interface accommodates trader-specific identifiers (trademarks, logos, symbols) and, where applicable, product labelling and marking information in line with Union product safety rules.
- Providers of these platforms are required to make best efforts to verify that traders have provided the required information before listing, and to make reasonable efforts to randomly check official databases for illegally identified products or services after listing.
Springlex's summary of the article is a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders shall ensure that its online interface is designed and organised in a way that enables traders to comply with their obligations regarding pre-contractual information, compliance and product safety information under applicable Union law.
In particular, the provider concerned shall ensure that its online interface enables traders to provide information on the name, address, telephone number and email address of the economic operator, as defined in Article 3, point (13), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and other Union law.
Providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders shall ensure that its online interface is designed and organised in a way that it allows traders to provide at least the following:
the information necessary for the clear and unambiguous identification of the products or the services promoted or offered to consumers located in the Union through the services of the providers;
any sign identifying the trader such as the trademark, symbol or logo; and,
where applicable, the information concerning the labelling and marking in compliance with rules of applicable Union law on product safety and product compliance.
Providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders shall make best efforts to assess whether such traders have provided the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 prior to allowing them to offer their products or services on those platforms. After allowing the trader to offer products or services on its online platform that allows consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders, the provider shall make reasonable efforts to randomly check in any official, freely accessible and machine-readable online database or online interface whether the products or services offered have been identified as illegal.
Relevant recitals
Recital 74 Platform design supporting trader compliance
Providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders should design and organise their online interface in a way that enables traders to comply with their obligations under relevant Union law, in particular the requirements set out in Articles 6 and 8 of Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 7 of Directive 2005/29/EC, Articles 5 and 6 of Directive 2000/31/EC and Article 3 of Directive 98/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(31). For that purpose, the providers of online platforms concerned should make best efforts to assess whether the traders using their services have uploaded complete information on their online interfaces, in line with relevant applicable Union law. The providers of online platforms should ensure that products or services are not offered as long as such information is not complete. This should not amount to an obligation for the providers of online platforms concerned to generally monitor the products or services offered by traders through their services nor a general fact-finding obligation, in particular to assess the accuracy of the information provided by traders. The online interfaces should be user-friendly and easily accessible for traders and consumers. Additionally and after allowing the offering of the product or service by the trader, the providers of online platforms concerned should make reasonable efforts to randomly check whether the products or services offered have been identified as being illegal in any official, freely accessible and machine-readable online databases or online interfaces available in a Member State or in the Union. The Commission should also encourage traceability of products through technology solutions such as digitally signed Quick Response codes (or ‘QR codes’) or non-fungible tokens. The Commission should promote the development of standards and, in the absence of them, of market led solutions which can be acceptable to the parties concerned.
Springlex and this text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. No liability is assumed for its content. The authentic version of this act is the one published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Definition
consumer
Definition
recipient of the service
Definition
online interface
Definition
trader
Definition
information society service
Definition
intermediary service
- a ‘mere conduit’ service, consisting of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network;
- a ‘caching’ service, consisting of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, involving the automatic, intermediate and temporary storage of that information, performed for the sole purpose of making more efficient the information's onward transmission to other recipients upon their request;
- a ‘hosting’ service, consisting of the storage of information provided by, and at the request of, a recipient of the service;
Definition
online platform
Definition
distance contract
Footnote 31