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OPINION (COM(2021)0731 – C9-0433/2021 – 2021/0381(COD))

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising

JURI-AD-735590

Committee on Legal Affairs · Rapporteur: Angelika Niebler

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The Committee on Legal Affairs gives its opinion on the proposed regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, calling on the lead committee to take its amendments into account. It proposes to limit the regulation to digital political advertising in European and national election campaigns, and to add due diligence, accessibility and exemption rules for micro-undertakings. It would require political advertising services to be provided only to sponsors who are EU citizens or persons residing or established in the Union. It adds rules on labelling, transparency notices, repositories, notification mechanisms, codes of conduct, supervision and fines.

Committee position. The Committee on Legal Affairs calls on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection to take into account its amendments, which narrow the regulation to digital political advertising in European and national election campaigns and add due diligence, accessibility, sponsor-eligibility and enforcement rules.

Key points

  1. The regulation should apply only to digital political advertising in European and national election campaigns, not to regional and local politics.
  2. Political advertising services should be provided only to a sponsor, or a service provider acting for a sponsor, who is an EU citizen or a person residing or established in the Union.
  3. Providers of political advertising services must do their best efforts to ensure compliance with the regulation before an advertisement is published and disseminated.
  4. Sponsors and providers acting for them must declare whether a service is political advertising, and correct manifestly erroneous declarations without undue delay.
  5. Providers must keep information for five years and transmit it digitally to the publisher, using a standardised automated process where technically possible.
  6. Each political advertisement must carry a clear statement that it is political, the identity of the sponsor and any person ultimately controlling the sponsor, and a transparency notice.
  7. Publishers must make reasonable efforts to ensure information is complete and accurate, and must not make an advertisement available, or must remove it, until corrected.
  8. Transparency notices must be kept up to date, easily accessible and machine readable where possible, and published from first publication until one year after the last publication.
  9. Very large online platforms and search engines must make information available in their repositories, and other publishers must use a dedicated repository set up by delegated act.
  10. Publishers must report amounts and other benefits received for political advertising services, including targeting and ad delivery, in their annual financial statements, with an exemption for small and medium-sized enterprises.
  11. Publishers must set up free notification mechanisms, inform notifiers of follow-up, and inform competent national authorities where they suspect disinformation.
  12. Member States, supervisory authorities and the Commission should encourage codes of conduct, and Member States must ensure cooperation and designate a contact point.

Who is affected

  • Providers of digital political advertising services, who must meet transparency, due diligence and information-transmission duties.
  • Political advertising publishers, who must label advertisements, publish transparency notices and handle notifications.
  • Sponsors, who must declare the political nature of advertising and correct erroneous information.
  • Micro-undertakings, which would be exempt from the regulation's obligations.
  • Persons with disabilities, for whom advertisements and transparency information must be accessible.

Figures and deadlines

  • Information must be retained for a period of five years from the date of the last placement, publication or dissemination.
  • Transparency information must be published from first publication until one year after the last publication.
  • The Commission should present an evaluation report within a 12-month period following each European Parliament election, for the first time by 31 December 2025.
  • Contact points shall meet at least biannually at Union level in the framework of the European Cooperation Network on Elections.