Source: OJ L 277, 27/10/2022, p. 1–102Current language: EN
- Digital services act
Basic legislative acts
- DSA regulation
Article 46 Codes of conduct for online advertising
Summary What does Article 46 of the DSA regulation say?
This article focuses on voluntary codes of conduct specifically for the online advertising ecosystem.
It builds directly on Articles 26 and 39 of the regulation, which already impose transparency obligations on online platforms regarding advertising.
Article 46 goes further by tasking the Commission with encouraging a broader set of actors — including advertising intermediaries and others in the programmatic advertising value chain — to develop voluntary codes that extend transparency beyond those existing requirements.
The Commission is not just a passive observer here; it actively shapes the goals these codes should pursue, including fair information flows and transparency around data monetisation.
Important points:
- The Commission is required to encourage and facilitate the development of these voluntary codes of conduct, with development targeted by 18 February 2025 and application by 18 August 2025.
- The codes must go beyond what Articles 26 and 39 already require, specifically addressing how advertising intermediaries share information and how data monetisation is communicated.
- All actors across the online advertising value chain are encouraged to endorse and comply with the commitments set out in the codes, though participation remains voluntary.
Springlex's summary of the article is a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
The Commission shall encourage and facilitate the drawing up of voluntary codes of conduct at Union level by providers of online platforms and other relevant service providers, such as providers of online advertising intermediary services, other actors involved in the programmatic advertising value chain, or organisations representing recipients of the service and civil society organisations or relevant authorities to contribute to further transparency for actors in the online advertising value chain beyond the requirements of Articles 26 and 39.
The Commission shall aim to ensure that the codes of conduct pursue an effective transmission of information that fully respects the rights and interests of all parties involved, as well as a competitive, transparent and fair environment in online advertising, in accordance with Union and national law, in particular on competition and the protection of privacy and personal data. The Commission shall aim to ensure that the codes of conduct at least address the following:
the transmission of information held by providers of online advertising intermediaries to recipients of the service concerning the requirements set in Article 26(1), points (b), (c) and (d);
the transmission of information held by providers of online advertising intermediaries to the repositories pursuant to Article 39;
meaningful information on data monetisation.
The Commission shall encourage the development of the codes of conduct by 18 February 2025 and their application by 18 August 2025.
The Commission shall encourage all the actors in the online advertising value chain referred to in paragraph 1 to endorse the commitments stated in the codes of conduct, and to comply with them.
Relevant recitals
Recital 107 Codes of conduct on advertising transparency
The provision of online advertising generally involves several actors, including intermediary services that connect publishers of advertisements with advertisers. Codes of conduct should support and complement the transparency obligations relating to advertising for providers of online platforms, of very large online platforms and of very large online search engines set out in this Regulation in order to provide for flexible and effective mechanisms to facilitate and enhance the compliance with those obligations, notably as concerns the modalities of the transmission of the relevant information. This should include facilitating the transmission of the information on the advertiser who pays for the advertisement when they differ from the natural or legal person on whose behalf the advertisement is presented on the online interface of an online platform. The codes of conduct should also include measures to ensure that meaningful information about the monetisation of data is appropriately shared throughout the value chain. The involvement of a wide range of stakeholders should ensure that those codes of conduct are widely supported, technically sound, effective and offer the highest levels of user-friendliness to ensure that the transparency obligations achieve their objectives. In order to ensure the effectiveness of codes of conduct, the Commission should include evaluation mechanisms in drawing up the codes of conduct. Where appropriate, the Commission may invite the Fundamental Rights Agency or the European Data Protection Supervisor to express their opinions on the respective code of conduct.
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
online interface
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
advertisement
Definition
online platform
Definition
online search engine