Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 27, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(vi) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (o):

“(p) any previous determinations by other Member State Digital Services Coordinators or other Member State competent authorities that are relevant to the amount of the sanction.”,”.

Amendment No. 20 seeks to add an additional criterion to which an coimisiún must have regard when deciding the amount of financial sanction to be imposed for relevant contravention. The additional criterion we seek to add is "any previous determinations by other Member State Digital Services Coordinators". It is very welcome to see such a robust and comprehensive list of factors that are considered in the determination of a sanction, including the amount of financial gain for the contravention and other crucial matters.It was also very welcome to see the Minister of State add during the Dáil debate a condition specifying that an coimisiún must have regard to any opinion offered by the European Commission in relation to the amount of the sanction. This was a welcome safeguard and one we would have also proposed had the Minister of State not introduced it. We would like to commend him in that regard.

The one small addition this amendment makes is to ask that an coimisiún also considers precedents set by other member states with regard to comparable decisions in order that were a similar contravention to be decided on by another competent authority previously in another member state, an coimisiún should note that precedent in terms of the amount of the sanction previously issued. This would avoid a scenario where, for example, a member state competent authority sets a positive precedent by setting a large sanction for a contravention only to have that strong precedent later undermined were an coimisiún to then issue a lower sanction. This section is already particularly strong, but it would be welcome for the Minister of State to consider an addition like this in terms of this last factor in deciding the amount of the sanction to be imposed under the Bill.

Amendment No. 51 seeks an identical provision, this time with regard to the decision of the CCPC where it relates to the digital services regulation. Once again, that commission would need to have regard to previous sanctions set by other member states when deciding the amount of the sanction for the contravention.