Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedEXPLANATORY STATEMENT

RemovedOn 25 November 2021, the Commission put forward its much-anticipated proposal for a Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, which is part of the Commission’s European Democracy Action Plan. The Regulation should enter into force and be fully implemented by April 2023, a year before the 2024 elections to the European Parliament.

RemovedThe main purpose of the Regulation is to lay down harmonised transparency obligations for providers of political advertising, and to introduce harmonised rules on the use of targeting and amplification techniques for political advertising, where personal data is used. This legislative proposal complements the Digital Services Act Regulation (DSA) as it establishes specific rules that build on the horizontal rules for platforms addressed thereby.

RemovedThe political advertising services in the EU are evolving, showing particular increase in online services, which are often provided cross border. The digital transition and technological changes have enabled a proliferation of different new media and methods of funding, preparation, placement, promotion, publication and dissemination of political advertising. These developments, against the background of fragmented and unevenly enforced national regulation, clearly demonstrate, that the internal market rules should be adapted so that to ensure adequate level of transparency for political advertising, necessary for a fair and open electoral process in all Member States.

RemovedThe Rapporteur welcomes the Commission proposal for a Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising and fully supports its aim to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market, as it seeks to eliminate the current fragmentation of requirements and ensure the free movement of political advertising services across the Union.

RemovedWhen evaluating possible modifications to the Commission proposal, the Rapporteur took into account - inter alia - the new legislative framework provided by the Digital Services Act, the current legislative framework on European Political parties, including the recent Commission proposal to amend Regulation 1141/2014 and finally the European Parliament resolution of 9 March 2022 on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation.

RemovedFollowing a broad consultation with various stakeholders, the Rapporteur proposes the following modifications to the Commission proposal.

Removed1. Subject matter, scope and definitions

RemovedThe Rapporteur proposes to clarify the scope, in particular by adding due diligence obligations to those relating to transparency, which should be applicable to sponsors, in addition to providers of political advertising services and publishers. Furthermore, the Regulation should protect fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Union and national law, including the Charter on Fundamental Rights and should not affect the content of political advertising or national rules on electoral periods and political campaigns. Furthermore, political opinions under the editorial responsibility of a service provider should not be considered political advertising when expressed without any form of payment from a third party.

RemovedThe Rapporteur also proposes clarifications of several definitions, in particular of ‘political advertising’ ‘political actor’ and ‘political advertising publisher’, ‘targeting and amplification techniques’ and suggests new definition of ‘providers of political advertising services’ in order to contribute to the clearer understanding of the enacting provisions.

RemovedThe Rapporteur finds it important to spell out clearly the criteria for identifying an advertisement as political advertisement. Such criteria should include the content and objective of the message, its sponsor, the language used to convey the message, as well as the context and the means by which the message is conveyed. There should be a clear link between the message and its design and liability to influence the outcome of an election or referendum, a legislative or regulatory process or voting behaviour. The Rapporteur considers it appropriate to encourage Members States to elaborate guidance, codes of conducts and standards needed to achieve effective application of these criteria.

Removed2. Transparency and due diligence obligations for political advertising services

RemovedThe Rapporteur considers it crucial to clarify and enhance the obligations of the different actors within the entire chain of political advertising and recommends for them to respect certain due diligence obligations when requesting or providing political advertising services. Furthermore, all service providers should ensure that the contractual arrangements concluded for the provision of a political advertising service specify how the relevant provisions of this Regulation are complied with.

RemovedThe Rapporteur proposes provision clarifying that political advertising in the EU may be provided only to a sponsor who is a citizen of the Union or to a natural or legal person, established or residing in the EU.

RemovedWith regards to transparency obligations for political advertising services, the Rapporteur proposes the following clarifications:

Removed The declaration made by the sponsors or the providers of advertising services acting on behalf of sponsors whether the advertising service constitutes a political advertising service should be made in a good faith, should contain accurate information, and should be provided in timely, complete and accurate manner. In case of manifestly erroneous declarations, the providers of advertising services should request corrections. Furthermore, in this context, additional risk management obligations should apply to service providers who are Very large online platforms in the meaning of the Digital Services Act. Member States should be encouraged to put in place tools that would facilitate the proper application of these obligations;

Removed Strengthening the provisions on record-keeping and transmission of information to the political advertising publisher so as to ensure that providers of political advertising services retain information they collect in the provision of their services and communicate it to the political advertising publisher in a timely and accurate manner;

Removed The Commission should put forward common standards to establish harmonised, efficient and prominent labels for political advertisements;

Removed Clarifications with regards to the information to be provided in the transparency notice and the responsibility of providers of political advertising services, including publishers with regards to accuracy and completeness of information;

Removed Clarifications with regards to libraries for political advertisements: political advertising publishers need to make information from transparency notices available in online libraries for political advertisements: this should happen in real time for publishers which are Very large online platforms (VLOPs) or Very large online search engines (VLOSEs) and no later than 24 hours for smaller publishers. To help smaller economic players, an EU library for hosting political advertisements shall be developed. Finally, the Commission would be required to adopt common standards to establish common data structure and standards, and a common application programming interface;

Removed Clarifications with regards to the foreseen procedures for natural and legal persons to easily flag up possibly unlawful political advertisements, and enhanced obligations for publishers and other providers of political advertising services to ensure that such advertisements are properly dealt with.

Removed3. Targeting and amplification of political advertising

RemovedWhen it comes to the obligations concerning targeting and amplification of political advertising involving the processing of personal data, the main focus of the Rapporteur goes to ensuring that political advertising publishers include in the transparency notice all information necessary to allow the individual concerned to understand the logic involved and the main parameters of the technique used. The publisher should also include a reference to effective means to support individuals exercise their data protection rights, in particular a reference to the right to give or refuse consent, with a link to an interface allowing for easily exercise such right.

Removed4. Supervision, enforcement and sanctions

RemovedIn respect of supervision and enforcement, the Rapporteur proposes to ensure a much closer cooperation at European level between the competent national authorities, while preserving the national competences in this field. As Member States will be required to designate one competent authority as a contact point, the Rapporteur proposes that those authorities work together within the Network of national contact points, in the framework of the already existing European Cooperation Network on Elections. The Rapporteur also elaborates the main tasks of this Network such as the exchange of information and best practices; the preparation of guidance, codes of conducts and standards to support actors involved to comply with main requirements of this Regulation; the development of an harmonised approach on sanctions.

RemovedAs for the provisions requiring Member States to lay down rules on sanctions, including administrative fines and financial penalties for infringements of the Regulation, the Rapporteur suggests that Member States should also have possibility to impose periodic penalty payments in case of a serious and repeated violations.

Removed5. Review, codes of conduct, interpretative guidance and standards

RemovedThe Rapporteur suggests clarifying better the review clause, according to which the Commission should regularly evaluate the implementation of the Regulation and report on that. While assessing the effectiveness of this new instrument, the Rapporteur considers that the Commission should pay particular attention to several key elements such as the scope, the definition of political advertising, the effectiveness of codes of conducts, of its governance and the possibility to introduce harmonised sanctions.

RemovedFinally, the Rapporteur considers that it would be important to elaborate codes of conduct, interpretative guidance and standards to support the sponsors, service providers acting on the behalf of sponsors, and providers of political advertising services in complying with the key requirements of this Regulation.

Removed3.11.2022