Ms Sabha Greene:

One of the main reasons the Government decided Coimisiún na Meán would be the regulator for the Digital Services Act is because it is the regulator for the online safety legislation. There are similarities between the two codes. There is an overlap of the platforms and the search engines that will be in the scope of both. Both take a similar approach in obliging companies to institute procedures that make them more transparent and faster in dealing with complaints and all that. They have very similar objectives. The way the online safety legislation is framed means Coimisiún na Meán has the flexibility to take into account one code when implementing the other if there are similar obligations under both. For example, there might be an obligation to do a risk assessment under both. Under one it is clearly an annual obligation but, under the other, it may not be so clear. The commission can take that into account and say that because a risk assessment is being done once a year, this now satisfies the obligations under the other code. That flexibility is there for it. Obviously, I cannot speak for the commission because it is independent in the exercise of its functions, but that is the way this has been designed to give it flexibility.

Under the online safety legislation, the commission also has an obligation to prepare codes of conduct. Again, those will have to be notified under the transparency rules of the EU to the European Commission and will be looked at for consistency with the Digital Services Act. As a result, they should not be at odds with each other. Where there is duplication, the commission should be able to take it into account and say that if a company has done it once, that is enough, unless there are specific circumstances, in which case it has the right to ask it to do an additional bit. We have not come to a conclusion on the position of Technology Ireland. We are still working through the specific points to make sure it can work. That is the intention.