What changed

SHORT JUSTIFICATION

ORDINARY LEGISLATIVE procedure

In the sensitive context of political advertising, the rapporteur for opinion believes that it is necessary to enhance transparency of the rules and clarify their scope while reinforcing safeguard mechanisms and reducing uncertainties with regard to compliance.

Follow up to the European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising

The draft report proposes a creation of a single European political advertisement repository, set up and managed by the Commission, of which the costs are covered by a fee that is proportionate to its use and to income generated from political advertising while exempting SMEs. This should both reduce compliance costs and enhance transparency of the market for the political advertising, including for researchers.

1. Rapporteur: Sandro GOZI (Renew / FR)

A majority of Member States have provisions allowing the candidates or parties to have free and proportionate access to traditional media during electoral campaigns. Given the shift to non-linear media such as social platforms, the rapporteur for opinion believes that during the elections to the European Parliament, very large online platforms should be required to display a limited amount of political ads free of charge. This should be based on the principle of equal access and give proportionate visibility to electoral entities duly registered for such elections.

2. Reference numbers: 2021/0381 (COD) / A9-0009/2023 / P9_TA(2024)0090

The legislative text should also clarify the scope of activities which constitute political advertising – therefore both advertisement generated and promoted by the same actor as well as commercial advertising which is liable to have an impact in particular on regulatory, legislative and voting behaviour should qualify as political advertising and be subjected to regulation. On the other hand, it should be clarified that only those activities which aim exclusively at informing the citizens about the given election, should be exempted.

3. Date of adoption of the resolution: 27 February 2024

The complex context of political advertising requires further safeguards. In addition to general provisions in the Digital Services Act regarding risk assessment and mitigation, specific due diligence measures should therefore be reinforced. Similar consideration applies to data protection rules in particular as far as use of targeting and amplification techniques is concerned, but also with regard to tracking of the user’s interaction with political ads. It should also be clarified that the actors monitoring and ensuring compliance with those rules need to be provided with sufficient resources to discharge their duties efficiently.

4. Legal basis: Articles 16 and 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

AMENDMENTS

5. Competent Parliamentary Committee: Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO)

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs calls on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, as the committee responsible, to take into account the following amendments:

6. Commission's position: accepts all amendments. The Commission presented the following statement in writing:

Amendment 1

The provisional agreement resulting from interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council includes an obligation for the Commission to set up a European repository for online political advertising. This repository has the tasks to enable public access to online advertisements, together with the information provided by political advertising publishers via a single portal, i.e. the European repository, and to ensure that this information is stored, hosted, indexed and made available to the public through a dedicated single portal for a period of seven years. The Commission recalls that, in comparison to the initial Commission proposal (COM(2021) 730 final of 21.11.2021), this constitutes a significant development which entails a substantial financial and administrative burden for the Commission.

Proposal for a regulation

Indeed, the provisional agreement introduces a number of tasks and obligations for the Commission which will entail a substantial increase in workload, both in the short and in the long-term i.e. beyond the current programming period. These include:

Recital 4

- the adoption of implementing acts in areas which the Commission had not envisaged,

Amendment 2

- the development, deployment and future maintenance and upgrades of uniform and effective IT tools for this repository, including to ensure:

Proposal for a regulation

- that political advertising publishers are able to access this mandatory service;

Recital 5

- that the public, interested entities and competent national authorities are able to access the information provided by this Repository; and

Amendment 3

- that compliance with relevant laws is guaranteed, including during periods affecting national elections.

Proposal for a regulation

This has a direct impact on the human resources required for the Commission services, as well as on the budget, which was not anticipated when the Commission submitted its proposal, amounting to around four to six additional FTEs at the European level and, at minimum, around EUR 1,5 million additional annual budget costs. The Commission has prepared a Legislative Financial Statement to this effect.

Recital 6

For the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), tasks that are to be performed internally in the Commission will need to be addressed by reallocation and redeployment within the services, and financed through redeployments within the available financial envelope of existing programmes or prerogative budget lines, which would therefore be reduced so as to increase the EU contribution to an agency or other management body entrusted with the management of the Repository. Funding after 2027 cannot be prejudged and will depend on the outcome of the preparations and negotiations of the MFF post-2027.

Amendment 4

In parallel, the Commission will explore possible options to entrust the responsibility for the management and operations of the European repository for political advertisements to an agency or management body, which is a flexibility that is provided for in the provisional agreement.

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 9

Amendment 5

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 10

Amendment 6

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 11

Amendment 7

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 14

Amendment 8

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 15

Amendment 9

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 16

Amendment 10

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 17

Amendment 11

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 17 a (new)

Amendment 12

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 18

Amendment 13

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 19

Amendment 14

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 26

Amendment 15

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 29

Amendment 16

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 30

Amendment 17

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 34

Amendment 18

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 39

Amendment 19

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 40

Amendment 20

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 41 a (new)

Amendment 21

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 45

Amendment 22

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 49

Amendment 23

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 55 a (new)

Amendment 24

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 56

Amendment 25

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 58

Amendment 26

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 62

Amendment 27

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 2

Amendment 28

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point b

Amendment 29

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 4 – point g a (new)

Amendment 30

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 4 – point g b (new)

Amendment 31

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10

Amendment 32

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 2

Amendment 33

Proposal for a regulation

Chapter II – title

Amendment 34

Proposal for a regulation

Article 4 – title

Amendment 35

Proposal for a regulation

Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)

Amendment 36

Proposal for a regulation

Article 5 – paragraph 2

Amendment 37

Proposal for a regulation

Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point a

Amendment 38

Proposal for a regulation

Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)

Amendment 39

Proposal for a regulation

Article 6 – paragraph 2

Amendment 40

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b

Amendment 41

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point c

Amendment 42

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a

Amendment 43

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point c

Amendment 44

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point e a (new)

Amendment 45

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point e b (new)

Amendment 46

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 6

Amendment 47

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 a (new)

Amendment 48

Proposal for a regulation

Article 9 – paragraph 1

Amendment 49

Proposal for a regulation

Article 9 – paragraph 4 a (new)

Amendment 50

Proposal for a regulation

Article 11 – paragraph 5

Amendment 51

Proposal for a regulation

Article 11 a (new)

Amendment 52

Proposal for a regulation

Article 13 a (new)

Amendment 53

Proposal for a regulation

Article 14 – paragraph 1

Amendment 54

Proposal for a regulation

Article 15 – paragraph 7 a (new)

Amendment 55

Proposal for a regulation

Article 17 – paragraph 1

Amendment 56

Proposal for a regulation

Article 19 – paragraph 2

ANNEX: LIST OF ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

The following list is drawn up on a purely voluntary basis under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur. The rapporteur has received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the opinion, until the adoption thereof in committee:

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION