New law implementing the P2B Regulation

Scope

As a reminder, the P2B Regulation entered into force on 12 July 2020 and applies to online intermediary service providers (e.g. e-commerce marketplaces, app stores, social networks, booking and comparison portals) and online search engines (the Providers) which, irrespective of their place of establishment, provide their services to business users and corporate websites established in the EU where those businesses offer goods or services to consumers located in the EU.

It does not apply to, among others, business to business platforms, peer to peer mediation in which commercial providers are not involved, online payment services, online advertising tools and online advertising exchanges.

Obligations

Obligations of the Providers under the P2B Regulation include the following:

• Terms and conditions (T&Cs) must, among others:

✓ be drafted in plain language and be available to business users at all times, including at pre-contractual stages;

✓ set the grounds pursuant to which services may be suspended and terminated;

✓ include a 15 day minimum notice period for changes to the T&Cs, and a right for business users to terminate the contract if they do not agree to the proposed changes;

✓ include a 30 day minimum notice period for terminating the contract together with a statement of reasons;

✓ indicate the availability of other channels for the sales of the business user's goods and services;

✓ explain the impact that the contract has on business user's ownership and control of their IP rights;

✓ disclose ranking parameters pursuant to which goods and services are ranked.

Non-compliance with the regulation could lead to T&Cs being declared null and void.

• Differentiated treatment. Providers must disclose any preferred treatment of their own products and services and the main economic, commercial or legal reasons for such treatment.
• Access to data. Providers must set out in their terms and conditions how business users can access personal data or other data generated through the provision of those service to the business user.
• Internal complaint handling system. Providers (except smaller ones which can be exempted) must set out an internal complaint handling system with a possibility for mediation.