Source: OJ L 277, 27/10/2022, p. 1–102Current language: EN
- Digital services act
Basic legislative acts
- DSA regulation
Article 86 Representation
Summary What does Article 86 of the DSA regulation say?
This article establishes the right of recipients of intermediary services to be represented collectively by qualifying third-party bodies when exercising their rights under this Regulation.
It sets out the conditions such bodies must meet to act on behalf of recipients, and places an obligation on online platform providers to handle complaints submitted through these representative bodies as a priority.
The article connects directly to Article 20, which governs internal complaint-handling mechanisms, by extending those mechanisms to accommodate collective representation.
Important points:
- Recipients of intermediary services can mandate a not-for-profit body, properly constituted under Member State law, with statutory objectives aligned to this Regulation's compliance, to act on their behalf.
- Providers of online platforms are required to process and decide upon complaints submitted by such representative bodies through the Article 20(1) mechanisms with priority and without undue delay.
- This right exists without prejudice to Directive (EU) 2020/1828 or any other national representation rights, meaning existing avenues of collective redress are preserved alongside this mechanism.
Springlex's summary of the article is a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Without prejudice to Directive (EU) 2020/1828 or to any other type of representation under national law, recipients of intermediary services shall at least have the right to mandate a body, organisation or association to exercise the rights conferred by this Regulation on their behalf, provided the body, organisation or association meets all of the following conditions:
it operates on a not-for-profit basis;
it has been properly constituted in accordance with the law of a Member State;
its statutory objectives include a legitimate interest in ensuring that this Regulation is complied with.
Providers of online platforms shall take the necessary technical and organisational measures to ensure that complaints submitted by bodies, organisations or associations referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article on behalf of recipients of the service through the mechanisms referred to in Article 20(1) are processed and decided upon with priority and without undue delay.
Relevant recitals
Recital 149 Right to mandate representation of recipients
Without prejudice to the rights of recipients of services to turn to a representative in accordance with the Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council(33) or to any other type of representation under national law, recipients of the services should also have the right to mandate a legal person or a public body to exercise their rights provided for in this Regulation. Such rights may include the rights related to the submission of notices, the challenging of the decisions taken by providers of intermediary services, and the lodging of complaints against the providers for infringing this Regulation. Certain bodies, organisations and associations have particular expertise and competence in detecting and flagging erroneous or unjustified content moderation decisions, and their complaints on behalf of recipients of the service may have a positive impact on freedom of expression and of information in general, therefore, providers of online platforms should treat those complaints without undue delay.
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
content moderation
Definition
information society service
Definition
terms and conditions
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
illegal content
Definition
online platform
Footnote 33