What changed

SHORT JUSTIFICATION

Democracy is our highest value in the EU. According to Article 10 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the functioning of the Union shall be founded on representative democracy. Article 11 specifically sets out that i.a. citizens and representative associations shall be given the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action. Moreover, the institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with them.

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.

According to Article 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, political parties at European level contribute to expressing the political will of citizens in the EU. Democracy lives from the participation of citizens. Therefore, it is important to address voters and encourage them to be part of the political discussion. The conference on the future of Europe showed that the interest of citizens in political discourse is very high. The conference on the future of Europe inspired thousands of citizens to politically participate and to express their opinions in the political debate. This culture of political debate must be fostered.

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.

Political advertising enables voters to identify differences in the political positions of political actors. It allows voters to be informed about the political actors’ political priorities. This informative function of political advertising is key to foster democratic debate and ultimately enhance democratic participation. Thereby, the transparency of political advertising is a crucial element for voters to identify which political actor disseminates the political advertisement and to understand the context of the advertisement.

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.

It is harmful to democracy when political discourse is manipulated and information is being distorted. The cases of mass disinformation campaigns in the EU, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, demonstrate this vulnerability. The potential for manipulation is particularly large when artificial intelligence or other technologies are involved. Especially in the digital world, citizens are increasingly exposed to disinformation campaigns. This must be prevented so that citizens can form their opinions on the basis of sound information.

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.

Freedom of the media and freedom of expression must be respected at all times so that an open exchange of opinions can take place. Journalists in the EU are reporting on political issues in online media, also and especially during election campaigns and thus providing information to citizens. It is important to separate editorial content from political advertising by definition, so that freedom of the media and freedom of expression are safeguarded.

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.

As regards regional and local politics and political advertising, there is no clear impact on EU internal market rules. For this reason, this regulation should be applied only to EU and national elections.

The main addressees of this regulation are providers of digital political advertising services. The providers of these services prepare, place, promote, publish or disseminate digital political advertising in the EU. For that reason, this regulation should clearly define which obligations are imposed upon which addressee.

AMENDMENTS

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

Amendment 1

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 1 a (new)

Recital 4

Or. en

Amendment 2

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 1 b (new)

Recital 5

Or. en

Amendment 3

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 1 c (new)

Recital 6

Or. en

Amendment 4

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 29

Or. en

Amendment 5

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 510

Or. en

Amendment 6

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 5 a (new)

Recital 11

Or. en

Amendment 7

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 5 b (new)

Recital 14

Or. en

Amendment 8

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 1015

Or. en

Amendment 9

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 1916

Or. en

Amendment 10

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 2017

Or. en

Amendment 11

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 21

Recital 17 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 12

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 2318

Or. en

Amendment 13

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 2619

Or. en

Amendment 14

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 28 a (new)

Recital 26

Or. en

Amendment 15

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 3329

Or. en

Amendment 16

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 3830

Or. en

Amendment 17

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 4134

Or. en

Amendment 18

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 48 a (new)

Recital 39

Or. en

Amendment 19

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 5040

Or. en

Amendment 20

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 66

Recital 41 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 21

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point a

Recital 45

Or. en

Amendment 22

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point b

Recital 49

Or. en

Amendment 23

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 2

Recital 55 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 24

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 3 – point b a (new)

Recital 56

Or. en

Amendment 25

Proposal for a regulation

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

Recital 58

Or. en

Amendment 26

Proposal for a regulation

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

Recital 62

Or. en

Amendment 27

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1 – paragraph 4 a (new)2

Or. en

Amendment 28

Proposal for a regulation

Article 21 – paragraph 13 – point 2 – introductory partb

Or. en

Amendment 29

Proposal for a regulation

Article 21 – paragraph 14 – point 4 –g pointa d(new)

Or. en

Amendment 30

Proposal for a regulation

Article 21 – paragraph 14 – point 4 –g pointb e(new)

Or. en

Amendment 31

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point f10

Or. en

Amendment 32

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point h2

Or. en

Amendment 33

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 6

Chapter II – title

Or. en

Amendment 34

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 7

Article 4 – title

Or. en

Amendment 35

Proposal for a regulation

Article 24 – paragraph 1 – pointa 8(new)

Or. en

Amendment 36

Proposal for a regulation

Article 25 – paragraph 1 – point 92

Or. en

Amendment 37

Proposal for a regulation

Article 26 – paragraph 1 – point 10a

Or. en

Amendment 38

Proposal for a regulation

Article 26 – paragraph 1 – point 11b a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 39

Proposal for a regulation

Article 46 – paragraph 1 a (new)2

Or. en

Amendment 40

Proposal for a regulation

Article 57 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b

Or. en

Amendment 41

Proposal for a regulation

Article 57 – paragraph 21 a– (new)subparagraph 1 – point c

Or. en

Amendment 42

Proposal for a regulation

Article 67 – paragraph 12 – point ba

Or. en

Amendment 43

Proposal for a regulation

Article 67 – paragraph 32 – point c

Or. en

Amendment 44

Proposal for a regulation

Article 67 – paragraph 32 – point e a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 45

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 12 – introductorypoint parte b (new)

Or. en

Amendment 46

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point b6

Or. en

Amendment 47

Proposal for a regulation

Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point c

Article 7 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 48

Proposal for a regulation

Article 79 – paragraph 81

Or. en

Amendment 49

Proposal for a regulation

Article 89 – paragraph 14 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 50

Proposal for a regulation

Article 911 – paragraph 35

Or. en

Amendment 51

Proposal for a regulation

Chapter III – title

Article 11 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 52

Proposal for a regulation

Article 12 – paragraph 8

Article 13 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 53

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1214 – paragraph 8 a (new)1

Or. en

Amendment 54

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1215 – paragraph 7 a (new)

Or. en

Amendment 55

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1617 – paragraph 41

Or. en

Amendment 56

Proposal for a regulation

Article 1619 – paragraph 52

Or. en

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

Amendment 57

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:

Proposal for a regulation

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Article 19

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Or. en

Amendment 58

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point a

Or. en

Amendment 59

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point b

Or. en

Amendment 60

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point c

Or. en

Amendment 61

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point d

Or. en

Amendment 62

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point e

Or. en

Amendment 63

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point f

Or. en

Amendment 64

Proposal for a regulation

Annex I – point i

Or. en