The Imaging Consumables Coalition of Europe, Middle East & Africa (ICCE) has now submitted its response to the European Commission consultation on the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA).
ICCE supports the Commission’s consultation on the DSA and hopes that any future law will encourage Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to take more responsibility in policing their customers’ use of their services and remove listings for counterfeit and illicit goods more promptly.
ICCE is encouraged that many stakeholders agree that Domain Name System (DNS) and website hosts should be required to do much more to remove websites operated by their customers which are intended to promote trade in counterfeit goods or to provide misleading or fraudulent services to unsuspecting users.
ICCE’s key points include:
- ICCE supports the creation of a trusted flagger regime requiring ISPs to establish a process whereby rights holders could report links to counterfeit goods which would be actioned immediately by ISPs. Currently, rights holders can wait for hours, or even weeks, for links to counterfeit goods to be removed, during which time criminal activity continues unobstructed.
- The introduction of a Know Your Clients requirement is also supported by ICCE and many other trade associations. If such a measure was created by the DSA, ISPs would be required to obtain certain information from their customers. This information could then be used to help law enforcement and aggrieved civil parties, which in itself would act as a deterrent against abuse of the ISP service by its customers.
- ICCE would welcome a proposal for a consumer notification regime in which ISPs would be required to notify unsuspecting consumers if they purchased counterfeit products through their platforms. Such an initiative would considerably benefit consumers in Europe and even, potentially, save lives.
ICCE said it welcomes the opportunity to engage constructively with all stakeholders to realise the Commission’s ambition to improve the e-commerce landscape and better protect consumers.
