FESI, the European Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, had already expressed mixed feelings last month about a report issued by a committee of the European Parliament about the European Union’s proposals for a Digital Services Act (DSA). In spite of some positive amendments, it is now regretting the absence of certain clauses from the version adopted by the Parliament.
“Yesterday’s vote is a clear missed opportunity to create a safer digital world where consumers are effectively protected from the exposure to illegal goods,” said Jérôme Pero, secretary general of FESI. “The absence of a stay-down obligation in the DSA will make it possible for illegal content, such as counterfeits, to continue reappearing online after being removed, and further profit the infringers at the expense of consumers’ health and brands’ revenues.”
In legal jargon, a stay-down provision is a requirement that a certain copyrighted work should be prevented from becoming available again in the future after a request being made by the authorities to the online hosts to take it down from their websites.
FESI also expressed disappointment about the exclusion of individual rights holders from the scope of a “trusted flaggers” provision in the proposed legislation, which it had already advocated before. It noted that FESI’s members and other brands “are in the best position to determine the illegality of their own products.”
FESI said that their exclusion is “another missed opportunity to remove illegal content more quickly and prevent consumers from accessing it.” It expressed hope, however, that future trilateral negotiations under the new French presidency of the EU will bring the final text of the DSA in line with the European Council’s position on this issue, which includes the individual rights holders as trusted flaggers.
On the other hand, FESI said it was pleased that the Parliament had introduced a mandate for intermediary service providers covered by the Know Your Business Customer (KYBC) requirement to conduct due diligence checks. The related amendment was passed with 334 votes in favor, 316 against and 38 abstentions, but another amendment that would have extended the KYBC’s scope to providers of intermediary services was rejected by just one vote, with 308 votes in favor, 309 against and 72 abstentions.
FESI said that the obligations for online marketplaces to check the identity of their business clients should be clearly extended to all intermediaries, including social media platforms, where fake sporting goods and other illegal products are also being sold.
