Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission has powers to impose a fee on platform and search engine providers under its supervision. This fee is expected to be levied for the first time in Autumn 2023.  The Commission has now set out the detailed rules and procedures for these fees to be levied in a Delegated Regulation, which supplements the DSA.

The Commission says that the Delegated Regulation aims to provide legal certainty to service providers designated as VLOPs or VLOSEs under the DSA. It specifies the methodology and procedures for calculating and levying the supervisory fee, provides further details on how the costs that the fees are intended to cover are calculated, as well as the method used to determine individual fees.

The DSA entered into force on 16 November 2022. The obligations for service providers designated as VLOPs or VLOSEs will become applicable four months after their formal designation in accordance with the DSA.

The Delegated Regulation will now be sent to the European Parliament and Council, which have three months to scrutinise it. At their request, the scrutiny period can be extended by three months. To read the Commission’s press release in full and for a link to the draft Delegated Act, click here.