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Digital Services Act

The Council and the Parliament signed the Digital Services Act (DSA) on 19 October 2022.

The DSA aims to protect the digital space against the spread of illegal content, and to ensure the protection of users’ fundamental rights.

It follows the principle that what is illegal offline must also be illegal online and will apply to all online intermediaries providing services in the EU.

Infographic of digital services act, describing what it is and with EU statistics of e-commerce and online purchases

What is the Digital Services Act (DSA)?

The DSA is an essential part of the EU’s digital agenda that aims to create a safe digital space for citizens and businesses. 

Today, e-commerce is an unstoppable trend. 2021 was a major milestone as it was predicted that the number of e-commerce users exceeded 500 million.

E-commerce in the European Union (2020):

Population: 447.7 million

E-shoppers: 73%

Billion online sales (€) = 757 billon 

Statistics of e-commerce per EU countries

  • Germany: (Population million people: 83.1) (% internet usage: 96) (% E-shoppers: 88)
  • France: (Population million people: 67.3) (% internet usage: 94) (% E-shoppers: 79)
  • Spain: (Population million people: 47.3) (% internet usage:94) (% E-shoppers: 70)
  • Italy: (Population million people: 59.6) (% internet usage: 83) (% E-shoppers: 59)
  • Sweden: (Population million people: 10.3) (% internet usage: 97) (% E-shoppers: 87)
  • Poland: (Population million people: 37.9) (% internet usage: 87) (% E-shoppers: 74)
  • The Netherlands: (Population million people: 17.4) (% internet usage: 95) (% E-shoppers: 93)
  • Austria: (Population million people: 8.9) (% internet usage: 90) (% E-shoppers: 76)
  • Romania: (Population million people: 19.3) (% internet usage: 87) (% E-shoppers: 54)
  • Belgium: (Population million people: 11.5) (% internet usage: 93) (% E-shoppers: 80)
  • Finland: (Population million people: 5.5) (% internet usage: 97) (% E-shoppers: 79)
  • Denmark: (Population million people: 5.82) (% internet usage: 99) (% E-shoppers: 91)
  • Czechia: (Population million people: 10.6) (% internet usage: 90) (% E-shoppers: 85)
  • Lithuania: (Population million people: 2.7) (% internet usage: 84) (% E-shoppers: 70)
  • Ireland: (Population million people: 4.9) (% internet usage: 93) (% E-shoppers: 85)
  • Portugal: (Population million people: 10.2) (% internet usage: 81) (% E-shoppers: 60)
  • Greece: (Population million people: 10.7) (% internet usage: 82) (% E-shoppers: 63)
  • Slovenia: (Population million people: 2) (% internet usage: 89) (% E-shoppers: 77)
  • Estonia: (Population million people: 1.3) (% internet usage: 93) (% E-shoppers: 76)
  • Hungary: (Population million people: 9.7) (% internet usage: 88) (% E-shoppers: 73)
  • Slovakia: (Population million people: 5.4) (% internet usage: 94) (% E-shoppers: 68)
  • Bulgaria: (Population million people: 6.9) (% internet usage: 76) (% E-shoppers: 47)
  • Croatia: (Population million people: 4) (% internet usage: 81)  (% E-shoppers: 75)
  • Latvia: (Population million people: 1.9) (% internet usage: 91) (% E-shoppers: 60)
  • Cyprus: (Population million people: 0.8) (% internet usage: 93) (% E-shoppers: 60)
  • Luxembourg: (Population million people: 0.6) (% internet usage: 99) (% E-shoppers: 82)
  • Malta: (Population million people: 0.5) (% internet usage: 88)  (% E-shoppers: 76)

 

The new rules will re-shape the rights and obligations of digital service providers, online users, customers and business users in the EU, in line with EU’s fundamental rights and values.

Internet users in the EU (aged 16 to 74 EU, 2020) of which 73% buy online = 326.8 million e-shoppers protected.

The DSA’s objectives are to:

  1. create a safer online environment
  2. define clear responsibilities for platforms such as marketplaces and social media
  3. deal with current digital challenges, which include:
  • illegal products, hate speech and disinformation
  • transparent data reporting and oversight

Expected impact of the digital markets in numbers:

  • a 13.5% increase in cross-border consumers = 12.7 million new consumers buying online
  • SMEs could save €15.5 billion in transaction costs online
  • reducing counterfeit online sales could bring a consumption (the use of goods and services by households) gain of €2.8 billion from film, music and games, and a further €300 million from digital books
  • an increase in annual cross-border e-commerce sales between €1.9 billion and €6.6 billion.

 

Online purchases of goods (EU, 2020) % of individuals who bought or ordered goods or services over the internet:

  • Music as CDs, vinyls = 7%
  • Films or series as DVDs, Blu-ray = 8%
  • Printed books, magazines or newspapers = 27%
  • Clothes shoes or accessories = 63%

 

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