Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 74:

In page 48, line 21, to delete “€2 million” and substitute “€1 million”.

Amendment No. 74 looks to change the definition of a "relevant media service provider" as one whose annual sales are greater than €1 million rather than the current provision of €2 million. This is a revised version of a Committee Stage amendment, where I had a threshold of €500,000, which may have been regarded as too low by some, but I believe €1 million is a reasonable threshold. This is me trying to meet halfway in regard to the threshold set out in the Bill, which is €2 million. My original proposal was €500,000 but I think €1 million is a reasonable compromise.

The reason this may be important is that many of the companies which become very large started quite small. We know that sometimes poor practices can be led by smaller companies. We know, for example, some companies, which have particular apps, have attached themselves and have led the way in the bad use and processing of data. If there is a practice that is of concern in an online service provider, the commission is then empowered to act as early as possible before it becomes a widespread practice, so that we do not have a danger where we may have small companies, while they may be independent in terms of their own moneys, providing services to larger companies which are able to lead bad practice. I want to ensure that the regulatory powers of the commission reaches as far as they can. Any company which is looking at sales of €1 million is in a situation where it should be able to take on board regulatory measures from the commission, and should be open to this. Again, this will not require the commission to immediately take steps to regulate these companies but it will empower it to do so.