EU Commission, EU Parliament, and EU Council agree on fairness of online platforms’ trading practices rules

EU Commission, EU Parliament, and EU Council agree on fairness of online platforms’ trading practices rule. The EU Commission, EU Parliament, and the EU Council reached a political deal that will define the rules aimed at creating a fair, transparent, and predictable business environment for businesses and traders when using online platforms. The new rules should afford more protection to all online sellers on different platforms, as well to ensure more transparency when ranking sellers on search engines. The regulation will specifically ban unfair trade practices including unexplained account suspensions and changes to business practices that are not announced in due time. Also, platforms will need to set an internal complaint handling system (only small platforms will be exempt from this requirement). Platforms will need to provide more options resolve issues out of court, such as mediation. As for enforcement, business associations will have the power to initiate lawsuits against such platforms. These new rules will be applicable within 12 months of their adoption and a dedicated Online Platform Observatory will follow implementation of these rules.