07 September, 2020
A Telecoms Industry View on the Digital Services Act: Joint Position Paper by ETNO and GSMA
In this digital age, the future of our democracies, societies and economies depends on digital ecosystems that are open, fair, competitive, and respectful of the rule of law.
The adoption of digital technology brings the promise of addressing some of the biggest challenges of our times: climate change, inclusion, socio-economic growth – just to name a few.
However, progress will only happen if digital industries are able to advance a purpose that goes beyond just delivering for narrow categories such as “users” or “consumers”. Digital technology needs to serve citizens.
For this reason, we believe that the European Commission’s efforts in shaping a “Digital Services Act” (DSA) has the potential to be one of the most relevant tech policy exercises of our generation.
Not only it will be relevant to millions of European citizens and businesses, but also has the potential to inspire a new global approach to digital markets.
In this context, ETNO and GSMA take a view that the digital economy is a broad, diverse ecosystem. One in which innovation thrives through collaboration and competition, but also through shared responsibility and accountability across global value-chains.
The DSA approaches two fundamental aspects of today’s digital markets. On the one hand, we must address the balance between ensuring fundamental freedoms and preventing illegal and socially toxic activity online. On the other hand, we should tackle the effects of excessive market power in the digital space, taking a European perspective on practices that might unfairly disadvantage European companies and innovation.
The Commission will no doubt embark on this feat guided by Europe’s long-standing values and principles, enshrined in the acquis communautaire: the freedom of thought and of expression, the principles of open and fair competition, as well as the key principles of the eCommerce Directive.
On behalf of the European mobile and fixed telecom operators, ETNO and GSMA propose that the Commission consider our recommendations when designing the DSA.
