Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to bring this Bill before the House today. The purpose of the Bill is to fully implement Regulation 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and European Council on a single market for digital services, commonly referred to as the EU Digital Services Act. The EU regulation has direct legal effect in all member states. Consequently, the obligations it places on regulated entities are directly applicable and require no further implementation in national law. The Digital Services Bill 2023 is a technical measure that is necessary to give full effect to the supervision and enforcement provisions of the regulation. The Bill does not add to nor alter the obligations placed on regulated entities by the regulation.

The services available online have impacted on practically every facet of the lives of European citizens. These services have brought enormous benefits socially, culturally and economically. They have provided unprecedented access to information and facilitated an entirely new level of connection and communication between geographically remote citizens. They are transforming for the better our work-life balance, the delivery of healthcare and education and access to Government services and have opened up new enterprise opportunities for commerce and trade. However, online services have also created an entirely new source of risk for citizens and society at large. These online safety risks include the dissemination of illegal and harmful online content.

It was for the purpose of addressing these risks that the EU adopted, in November 2022, the EU digital services regulation. The regulation emphasises a pioneering regulatory framework to protect EU users of digital services and their fundamental rights online. It aims to rebalance the responsibilities of users, online platforms and public authorities, placing citizens at the centre. The regulation marks a sea-change in the EU’s ability to protect society from illegal and harmful online content. The regulation is designed to improve online safety by placing obligations directly on providers of online intermediary services, particularly platforms such as social media, marketplace sites and search engines. These obligations are designed to expedite the identification and removal of illegal and harmful online content. The regulation places obligations on service providers to improve transparency of their services and to give users more control over their online experience.

An important mechanism for expediting the removal of illegal content is the framework for trusted flaggers established by the regulation. Providers of online services are obliged to prioritise assessment of notices submitted by trusted flaggers about the presence on their service of specific items of information that the trusted flagger considers to be illegal content. However, the trusted flagger is not the arbitrator of illegal content. It is the responsibility of the providers to decide whether the flagged content is illegal. The providers are obliged to come to a decision on a notice in a diligent and non-arbitrary manner. The protection of freedom of speech is a fundamental principle in the EU regulation. The regulation provides users with a right to complain if their content is removed and with the right to access an out-of-court dispute settlement mechanism if the matter is not resolved to their satisfaction by the appeals process.

The European Commission has designated 22 entities as very large online platforms and search engines under the regulation. The European Commission has primary responsibility for regulating these entities, but will do so in concert with national authorities. As thirteen of these very large entities are established in Ireland, we have a unique, critically important and high-profile role in the overall EU regulatory framework for digital services. For this reason, it is imperative for our national reputation that Ireland enacts the Digital Services Bill before the EU deadline of 17 February, when the EU regulation comes into full effect.

The regulation requires Ireland to designate a lead competent authority, to be known as the digital services co-ordinator. The digital services co-ordinator will be the single point of contact, with lead responsibility for all matters to do with the EU regulation in Ireland, including co-ordination across the EU, handling complaints, codes of conduct, communications, supervision, investigation and enforcement. The Bill designates Coimisiún na Meán as the digital services coordinator for Ireland. An coimisiún was established by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, on 15 March 2023. The Bill adds the functions of the digital services co-ordinator to those an coimisiún already has and adapts an coimisiún’s existing powers, such as powers of investigation and the power to impose financial sanctions, for the specific cases where it will be implementing provisions of the EU regulation. The co-location within Coimisiún na Meán of the supervisory and enforcement responsibilities for the digital services regulation, the EU terrorist content online regulation, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 and the regulation of broadcasting and video-on demand services will enable efficient and cohesive implementation of the regulatory framework for the benefit of citizens and providers. The synergies will also provide significant cost savings for the Exchequer.

The Bill designates the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, as a second competent authority with specific responsibility for the elements of the EU regulation relating to online marketplaces. The Bill provides both competent authorities with the necessary powers to carry out investigations and take enforcement actions, including the imposition of significant financial penalties for non-compliance. The Bill is prescriptive regarding how the competent authorities should exercise their powers to ensure the principles of natural justice, fair procedures and proportionality are fully respected.

Having set out the background, context and purpose of the Bill, I will now outline its main provisions. The Bill is structured in 4 Parts and contains 83 sections. It has been drafted to provide the greatest possible alignment between the provisions for Coimisiún na Meán and those for the CCPC, while simultaneously maintaining consistency with their respective principal Acts, namely the Broadcasting Act 2009 and the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014.Part 1 of the Bill deals with preliminary and general matters common to legislation, namely, commencement, definitions, service of documents and revocations.

Part 2 contains a series of amendments to the Broadcasting Act 2009 to designate and empower Coimisiún na Meán as the digital services co-ordinator and a competent authority for the EU regulation.

Part 3 designates the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission as a competent authority for three specific articles of the regulation relating to online marketplaces. The provisions for the CCPC have been set out in a self-contained part of the Bill. This part provides that the CCPC can use its powers of investigation as provided for under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 in the context of the EU regulation.

Part 4 contains miscellaneous provisions, including an obligation on authorised officers and staff of the CCPC to maintain professional secrecy.

It is imperative that the State has a comprehensive and robust legal basis for the full and effective implementation of the EU digital services regulation. I am confident that the Bill achieves this objective in a balanced and proportionate manner. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators for their attention and I commend the Bill to the House.