European Unione-Commerce Directive, Liability of Intermediary Service Providers (Articles 12 to 15)
Directive 2000/31/EC, Arts. 12-15
An intermediary liability rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Reporting
As of .
What it requires
- Read Articles 4, 5, 6 and 8 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 for the current rules: Article 89 of that Regulation deleted Articles 12 to 15 of Directive 2000/31/EC and construes references to them as references to those Articles.
- To keep the mere conduit exemption in Article 12, do not initiate the transmission, do not select its receiver, and do not select or modify the information transmitted. Automatic, intermediate and transient storage counts as part of the transmission only so far as it takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission and for no longer than is reasonably necessary for it.
- To keep the caching exemption in Article 13, do not modify the information, comply with the conditions on access to it and with industry-standard rules on updating it, and do not interfere with the lawful use of industry-standard technology to obtain data on its use. Act expeditiously to remove or disable access to what you have cached once you have actual knowledge that it has been removed from or disabled at the initial source, or that a court or administrative authority has ordered that.
- To keep the hosting exemption in Article 14, remove or disable access to the information expeditiously once you have actual knowledge of illegal activity or information or, for a claim for damages, awareness of facts or circumstances from which it is apparent. The exemption does not apply where the recipient of the service acts under your authority or control.
- You are not required to monitor the information you transmit or store, or actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity: Article 15(1) bars Member States from imposing a general obligation to do so.
- Inform the competent public authorities promptly of alleged illegal activities or information provided by recipients of your service, and on request give them information identifying the recipients with whom you have storage agreements, where a Member State has imposed those obligations under Article 15(2).
- Comply with an order of a court or administrative authority to terminate or prevent an infringement: Articles 12(3), 13(2) and 14(3) leave that power untouched.
What this law does
Articles 12 to 14 of Directive 2000/31/EC required Member States to ensure that a provider of an information society service is not liable for information it transmits as a mere conduit, stores temporarily in a cache, or stores at the request of a recipient of the service, on the conditions each Article sets.
For hosting, Article 14(1) conditions the exemption on the provider having no actual knowledge of illegal activity or information and, as regards claims for damages, no awareness of facts or circumstances from which it is apparent, or on the provider acting expeditiously to remove or disable access to the information once it has that knowledge or awareness.
Article 15 barred Member States from imposing on these providers a general obligation to monitor the information they transmit or store or actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity. Each exemption left untouched the power of a court or administrative authority, under a Member State's legal system, to require the provider to terminate or prevent an infringement.
Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 deleted Articles 12 to 15 and construes references to them as references to Articles 4, 5, 6 and 8 of that Regulation.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.