Denmark, Portugal and Spain are calling on the European Commission to draw up a strong Digital Fairness Act. This is stated in a letter seen by Rapporteur, UNN reports.
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Three EU countries are calling for the planned EU reform aimed at strengthening consumer protection online to be made "ambitious and effective," while also ensuring the protection of consumer autonomy and regulating phenomena such as the addictive design of digital platforms and influencer marketing.
Although digital innovations bring "significant benefits," online businesses are gaining ever more opportunities to "influence consumer behaviour," creating "new imbalances," the letter says.
The countries are also asking the European Commission to regulate certain design features of online platforms, including elements that are addictive and "primarily intended to maximise the time spent on digital services, encourage excessive or compulsive spending, or otherwise harm consumers."
In addition, the countries emphasise that the Digital Fairness Act should cover personalised recommendations and user-engagement mechanisms, ensure "fairness by design," and give online consumers control over their own experiences when using platforms.
They also called on the European Commission to regulate influencer marketing as part of the forthcoming rules. In particular, the rules should ensure a distinction between "independent recommendations and content influenced by commercial interests." The letter notes that new forms of commercialisation may "blur" the boundaries between personalised recommendations, advertising and the influence of content created by artificial intelligence.
The Digital Fairness Act should complement the EU’s existing technology rules and help close regulatory gaps, the letter says.
The European Commission plans to present the Digital Fairness Act on 11 November, together with a review of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation (CPC). This is intended to strengthen the Commission’s powers to ensure compliance with consumer protection rules.
The countries also said that reform of the CPC Regulation should strengthen enforcement of the rules "through a more integrated approach across different jurisdictions."
In June, Spain also expressed support for the Digital Fairness Act in a separate document seen by Rapporteur. It addressed similar problems with consumer protection online that, in Madrid’s view, the European Commission should address.