Brussels, 17 June 2022: Classifieds Marketplaces Europe (CME) welcomes the adoption by MEPs in the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on 16 June of the report on the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), in particular the exclusion of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions from the definition of online marketplaces.
As the GPSR aims to protect consumers from dangerous products, the definition of marketplaces rightfully focuses solely on commercial activities, meaning transactions from business traders to consumers. This is in line with the recently adopted political agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA).
CME also welcomes the inclusion of a sensible deadline of two days to respond to orders from authorities, and the requirement for market surveillance authorities to respect confidentiality and business secrets.
However, CME is concerned by additions on the removal of content, such as reducing the deadline to remove content to three working days following notification, as well as stringent information collection requirements for marketplaces and the removal of the clarification that online marketplaces should not be responsible for verifying the completeness, correctness and the accuracy of the information provided by traders. Such obligations would be disproportionate and not achievable in the vast majority of cases for classifieds marketplaces.
Carolin Wehrhahn, Chair of CME and Director of EU Public Affairs at Adevinta, says: “We welcome that the IMCO committee yesterday agreed on a definition of online marketplaces, which is consistent with the recently agreed DSA. We believe that the reuse and resale of products that are already on the EU market should be maximised and consumers should not be discouraged from buying and selling second-hand products, which ultimately benefit circular consumption.
However, we remain concerned that certain specificities of the classifieds business model have not yet been considered. We call on the Council to take our concerns into account and avoid imposing obligations that would be impossible to comply with or hinder the end user’s experience with our services.”
Additional information:
Carolin Wehrhahn, CME chair, carolin.wehrhahn@adevinta.com
Classifieds Marketplaces Europe is a coalition of industry-leading EU-based tech companies operating online classifieds platforms in 17 European countries. Our aim is to empower citizens to strengthen the circular economy and local communities. By combining our resources, we are raising awareness about the specificities of the online classifieds’ sector and its positive contribution to key objectives of the EU digital and green agenda.
