(1)

Regulation (EU) 2024/900 provides for the establishment of the European repository for all online political advertisements published in the Union or directed to Union citizens or residents in the Union (‘the European repository’). The information in the European repository shall be available in machine-readable format, shall allow for multicriteria queries and shall be publicly accessible. To support these objectives the Commission is to set out detailed arrangements for the provision of a common data structure, standardised metadata, standardised authentication and a common application programming interface for the European repository.

(2)

To ensure interoperability with other network and information systems, in particular between the European repository and advertising repositories, as referred to in Article 39 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), and to facilitate indexation of online political advertisements by online search engines, it is necessary to put in place arrangements for developing a controlled vocabulary with standardised and organised arrangements of relevant terms and phrases presented as lists of terms or as a thesaurus, and taxonomies with a hierarchical structure of broader and narrower terms, including by making best use of existing Core Vocabularies (3), underpinning the common data structure and metadata standards.

(3)

To ensure that interoperability, particularly in the multilingual context of online political advertising provided in the Union, and indexation by online search engines each metadata element should have a unique value domain, which could take the form of dates, character strings or codes derived from international standards. To support the effective functioning of the European repository and searchability of information about political advertisements therein, such metadata elements should include the elements of the transparency notice as set out in point 3 of Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1410 (4), information enabling the identification of the online political advertisements, where available, the permanent uniform resource locator (URL) to where the political advertisement is available, and the language of the metadata elements. To ensure consistent linkages between datasets, the information enabling the identification of the political advertisement could include, for instance, as the case may be, the text used in the political advertisement, the alternative presentation of the non-textual content of the political advertisement, the automated transcript or subtitles for audio or video political advertisements, the link(s) to the media files used in the political advertisement, or a unique identifier attributed by the publisher and other contextual information, such as the platform on which the political advertisement was published.

(4)

To ensure future-proofing and allow for constant innovation, the measures provided for in this Regulation should respect the principle of technological neutrality, that is to say to neither impose nor discriminate in favour of the use of a particular type of technology. and should retain flexibility with regard to technological advances and developments.

(5)

To deliver on the objectives set out in Article 13(6), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2024/900, it should be ensured that the European repository (5) is maintainable over time, capable of supporting evolving standards and practices, increased data volumes, and new user or regulatory requirements. It is necessary to ensure that the technical arrangements for the provision of the common data structure, metadata standards and common application programming interface will be compatible with and support the development of other components and layers of the European repository, notably the hosting infrastructure and the schema definitions, the description of which will be made publicly available sufficiently in advance of the date when the European repository will be functional. It is also necessary to ensure that the European repository maintains robust data integrity, effective governance, and strong security protocols. The first version of the European repository should be compatible with existing Commission information systems, including by requiring the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to ensure that the European repository will be rolled out as soon as possible. The date of functioning of the first version of the European repository should be announced on the public portal of the repository sufficiently in advance to allow publishers of online political advertisements to undertake preparations and familiarise themselves with the new standards.

(6)

Coherent and timely technical implementation of the common data structure, metadata standards and common application programming interface requires the active involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, in particular economic operators which are providers of political advertising services, including publishers, and associations representing them. The Commission has established an informal Union Expert group of providers of political advertising services to support the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 and contribute to the sharing of experience and good practices in the field of transparency and targeting of political advertising.

(7)

To support third-party and public access to transparency notices of political advertisements, the provision of the common data structure, metadata standards and common application programming interface should enable, among other things, the creation of easily accessible, machine-readable and user-friendly transparency notices of political advertisements, which would also reinforce compliance with Article 12(3) and Article 13(2) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 and minimise the administrative burden on publishers of political advertisements.

(8)

The implementation of a common data structure, standardised metadata, standardised authentication and common application programming interface for the European repository may entail the processing of personal data, such as the elements of transparency notices set out in points 3.1-3.3 of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1410, which should comply with the rules on the protection of personal data laid down in Regulations (EU) 2016/679 (6) and (EU) 2018/1725 (7) of the European Parliament and of the Council.

(9)

This Regulation introduces binding requirements for cross-border digital public services within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2024/903 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8). An interoperability assessment has therefore been completed. The Digital Dimensions chapter of the Legislative Financial and Digital Statement constitutes the resulting report.

(10)

The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on 30 January 2026.

(11)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 29(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/900,