Source: OJ L 277, 27/10/2022, p. 1–102Current language: EN
- Digital services act
Basic legislative acts
- DSA regulation
Article 4 Mere conduit
Summary What does Article 4 of the DSA regulation say?
This article establishes the "mere conduit" liability exemption for information society service providers involved in the transmission of information or the provision of network access.
It sets out the core principle that such providers are shielded from liability for the content they transmit, provided they play a purely passive role in that transmission.
The article also clarifies that incidental, temporary storage necessary to carry out the transmission falls within this exemption, and preserves the ability of judicial or administrative authorities to order providers to stop or prevent infringements regardless of this protection.
Important points:
- As a mere conduit service provider, benefit from the liability exemption by ensuring you do not initiate the transmission, select the receiver, or select or modify the information transmitted.
- Automatic, intermediate, and transient storage is covered by the exemption, as long as it serves solely the purpose of carrying out the transmission and is not retained longer than reasonably necessary.
- Judicial and administrative authorities retain the power to require service providers to terminate or prevent an infringement, meaning this exemption does not override such orders.
Springlex's summary of the article is a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Where an information society service is provided that consists 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, the service provider shall not be liable for the information transmitted or accessed, on condition that the provider:
does not initiate the transmission;
does not select the receiver of the transmission; and
does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission.
The acts of transmission and of provision of access referred to in paragraph 1 shall include the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted in so far as this takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the communication network, and provided that the information is not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.
This Article shall not affect the possibility for a judicial or administrative authority, in accordance with a Member State’s legal system, to require the service provider to terminate or prevent an infringement.
Relevant recitals
Recital 21 Neutrality condition for mere conduit and caching
A provider should be able to benefit from the exemptions from liability for ‘mere conduit’ and for ‘caching’ services when it is in no way involved with the information transmitted or accessed. This requires, among other things, that the provider does not modify the information that it transmits or to which it provides access. However, this requirement should not be understood to cover manipulations of a technical nature which take place in the course of the transmission or access, as long as those manipulations do not alter the integrity of the information transmitted or to which access is provided.
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
recipient of the service
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;