Digital Services Act – supervisory fees on providers of very large online platforms and search engines

KEY POINTS

Costs and fees

The Commission estimates annually the overall costs (human-resource, administrative and operational expenditure) it is likely to incur the following calendar year (n + 1) in:

• setting up, maintaining and operating a database and information-sharing system;
• supporting the board;
• supervising VLOPs and VLOSEs and enforcing the Digital Services Act.

The estimated costs for year n + 1 are the basis for determining the supervisory fees charged to providers of VLOPs and VLOSEs in the current year n.

Supervisory fees are charged to services – online platforms and online search engines – with an average of at least 45 million monthly users.

Fees per service are calculated using a mathematical formula that takes into account the service’s number of users. The fee may not be greater than 0.05% of the service provider’s worldwide profit in the preceding financial year.

Individual fees

The Commission:

• estimates the total amount of costs for the following year (n + 1) to be received through the supervisory fees when drawing up its draft budget for the following year (n + 1);
• receives each year, by 31 August at the latest, the financial statements and supporting documents from service providers to determine the maximum overall limit of the fee for each service (an amount that cannot exceed the limit of 0.05% of their worldwide profit in the preceding year);
• informs each provider, by 30 September at the latest, of the provisional amount of their supervisory fee, giving them 2 weeks to make any observations;
• after taking account of any observations, notifies each provider, by 30 November at the latest, of the final amount they owe.

Providers who do not comply with the payment conditions may face fines and penalties.

Reporting

The Commission:

• reports annually to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union by 31 March on the supervisory costs it incurred and fees (broken down by provider) it charged the previous year;
• submits the first report by 31 March 2024, covering the provisional period from 16 November 2022 to 31 December 2023, prior to the availability of the first Digital Services Act supervisory fees.