Digital Services Coordinators

The DCSs are, in principle, competent to supervise and enforce compliance with the DSA by providers of intermediary services established in their territory, regardless of their number of users.

While the Commission enjoys exclusive competence to supervise, enforce and monitor compliance by Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) with the enhanced due diligence obligations the DSA imposes upon them to address systemic risks, the Commission and the national authorities share competence for all other obligations imposed on VLOPs and VLOSEs under the DSA.

Member States may assign specific tasks to other competent authorities, but the Digital Service Coordinator (DSC) remains responsible for ensuring coordination at national level.

Together, the Digital Services Coordinators ensure that the DSA is properly enforced throughout the EU. They cooperate with each other, other national authorities, the Board and the Commission.

DSCs have the power to request access to data, order inspections and impose fines on providers of intermediary services in their territory in the event of an infringement. They are also responsible for certifying “trusted flaggers”, independent organisations who are experts in detecting, identifying and removing illegal content, and out-of-court dispute settlement bodies.

For monitoring the due diligence obligations of very large online platforms and search engines, the Commission enjoys exclusive competence.

When to contact a Digital Services Coordinator?

Complaints by individuals are going to be an essential contribution to an effective enforcement of the DSA. For this purpose, if while navigating on a platform you encounter an infringement of the DSA rules, you have the right to lodge a complaint alleging to the Digital Services Coordinator of the Member State where you are located or established.

Trusted Flaggers

The Digital Services Coordinators are responsible for awarding the status of “trusted flaggers” to entities based in their Member State. Trusted flaggers are, for example, civil society organisations with particular expertise and competence in detecting, identifying, and notifying illegal content.They should be independent from online platforms. Online platforms must ensure that notices submitted by trusted flaggers are given priority and are processed timely.

Out-of-court settlement bodies

The Digital Services Coordinators are also responsible for certifying out-of-court settlement bodies. To appeal a decision from a provider of online platforms, users can now choose to refer to an out-of-court dispute settlement, without prejudging the possibility to initiate, at any stage, judicial proceedings.

Several Member States have not yet successfully designated and empowered their DSCs and are in different stages of infringement proceedings as initiated by the European Commission.

Initiation of Infringement Proceedings

The Commission opened infringement proceedings by sending a Letter of Formal Notice to several Member States for not complying with their obligations set forth by the DSA. Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Belgium, Spain, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,  Sweden and Bulgaria have faced such proceedings primarily due to their failure to designate and/or fully empower their DSC. Among these, Estonia,  Slovakia and Sweden, after the receipt of letter of formal notice, and the Netherlands, after the receipt of reasoned opinion, have addressed the Commission’s concerns by successfully designating and empowering their DSCs. Although the proceedings are ongoing for the remaining 9 Member States, several of them (Croatia, Luxembourg and Belgium) recently  adopted the implementing laws which the Commission will assess accordingly .

Reasoned Opinions

In a second step on the infringement path, the European Commission has issued reasoned opinions to several Member States due to persistent non-compliance (Czechia, Cyprus, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Bulgaria and Belgium).  

Referrals to the Court of Justice of the European Union

In further steps, the Commission has decided to refer Czechia, Cyprus, Spain, Poland, and Portugal to the Court of Justice of the European Union. This referral triggers the litigation phase of the infringement procedure where the CJEU is asked to rule on the compliance of the concerned Member States with EU law. If the CJEU finds a breach, the Member State is legally bound to comply. Failure to do so can lead to further action under Article 260 TFEU, including financial penalties. These referrals underscore the seriousness of their failure to designate and/or empower their DSCs, as well as their lack of established penalty rules for non-compliance with the DSA. Such actions are significant because they highlight the need for effective and uniform enforcement of digital service regulations across the EU. 

Timeline

• 24 April 2024

  Letters of Formal Notice (Czechia, Cyprus, Estonia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia)
• 25 July 2024

  Letters of Formal Notice (Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden)
• 3 October 2024

  Reasoned Opinions (Czechia, Cyprus, Portugal)

  Closures (Estonia, Slovakia)
• 16 December 2024

  Letters of Formal Notice (Bulgaria)

  Reasoned Opinions (Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, and Spain)
• 7 February 2025

  Closure (Sweden)
• 7 May 2025

  Referrals to Court (Czechia, Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Spain)

  Reasoned Opinion (Bulgaria)

  Closure (Netherlands) 

Find more information about infringement procedures.