Online platforms: new rules to increase transparency and fairness for business users

A public discussion on Online Platforms was co-organised by the Malta Business Bureau and the European Parliament Liaison Office on 5 October.

During the event, moderated by MBB CEO Joe Tanti, emphasis was placed on the need for fair rules and transparency for business users of the online platforms particularly vis-a-vis the industry giants.

Support was also generally expressed for the proposed EU regulation on fairness and transparency for business users of online services, on the perception that it will protect smaller and independent businesses.

Dr Francis Zammit Dimech, Member of the European Parliament, outlined some interesting concrete examples of the balancing act required in his role as parliamentary rapporteur for the Legal Affairs Committee to represent the concerns of business users while protecting the freedom of platforms. Issues of data, protection of consumers, ranking whether search engines should be considered intermediaries − the Parliament is moving towards considering them to be so − and what form of online use should be considered a transaction, all feature high as in his role as rapporteur on this file, wherein he is meeting both the big platforms and the small businesses.

Simon de Cesare, president of the Malta Business Bureau, while noting that the hotel industry was the most represented sector present in the audience, highlighted the importance of the proposed regulation for the sector, observing that over 50% of guest nights in Europe are booked through Booking.com. This, he said, gave the latter enormous leverage over accommodation providers when setting the contractual terms of the business relationship.

Anna Zammit Vella, acting head of the EP Office in Malta, emphasised the Parliament’s role as co-legislator on this file together with Council, underlining the opportunity for citizens to put forward their thoughts on this draft law while it is still being discussed in Brussels and in this way, to be part of the European law-making process as their thoughts would be reflected in the Parliament's position and possibly in the final text.

Glorianne Cini and Philip Vella from the Ministry of Economy, Investment and Small Business, set the scene with a technical presentation on the main points of the proposed regulation, in particular the three pillars of transparency, redress and monitoring that the proposed text is built on.

MEP Zammit Dimech and Ms Cini both participated in a panel discussion, moderated by Claudine Cassar, Technology Consulting leader at Deloitte Malta. During the panel, the public raised concerns relating to business users’ issue of being "punished" by online platforms when selling online without knowing why. This is one of the main grievances that this new law will set right when it is adopted.

Andy Tanti, representative of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association; Nigel Mifsud, representative of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and Marcel Mizzi, representative of GRTU, all intervened to share their views on the proposal.

Parliament is aiming to establish its position in the coming weeks and the Austrian Council Presidency for a framework agreement among member states by November. Realistically the MEP and MEIB both agreed that it will take two years to have this legislation in place.