A safer online environment. Government approves the draft law on the digital economy

The Digital Economy Bill prepares the Czech Republic for the adaptation of the European Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Data Governance Act (DGA), which regulate the functioning of the digital space in the European Union. These regulations strengthen freedom of speech in some areas, protect public debate from censorship and introduce new rules to protect users from illegal content.

"In today's digital age, we conduct much of our daily activity online and the level of security should reflect to this. The Digital Economy Act will help strengthen user protection and set a level playing field for businesses. Internet users will thus be assured that their data is safe and competition between small, medium and large companies will be on fairer terms," says Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela, adding that the aim is for the law to help increase customer confidence and ensure the competitiveness of smaller businesses in the global market.

The DSA is intended to strengthen the protection and security of users online. Therefore, the Act regulates the rules for online intermediary services such as internet service providers, caching services, online marketplaces, social networks, cloud services, online platforms, web hosting and internet search engines. The DSA grants users of these services new rights that give them greater control over the services they receive.

For the DSA, the principle is that what is illegal offline should be illegal online. Users will be able to report illegal content through a duly substantiated notification. This notification will need to include an explanation of why the content is illegal. The platform then assesses the notification according to the law and only deletes the content if it is clear that it is indeed illegal. In this case, the platform must clearly and specifically justify its decision.

"The Digital Services Act builds on the e-Commerce Directive and sets out the basic rules not only for e-commerce but also for other digital services across the EU. These rules allow even small online marketplaces or other digital services to operate effectively across the EU. This is very important for the Czech Republic, which has a higher number of online marketplaces," says Petr Očko, Senior Director of Digitalisation and Innovation, adding: "Without the basic rules, there is a risk that only the biggest players will gain a foothold in the market, which would limit competition and the development of innovation. These rules are set proportionally. This means that the level of obligations depends on the size of the entity. Internet giants will thus have more obligations than smaller digital service providers."

The new content moderation rules are designed to protect users from illegal content without restricting freedom of expression. The law includes mechanisms for appeals and the resolution of out-of-court disputes, ensuring that any decision to remove content is transparent and fair. The law does not focus on restricting business activities, but on safe data management, limiting fraudulent practices, prohibiting the targeting of ads to minors or targeting based on sensitive data such as health, religion or race.

You can find details of the other new content moderation rules here. You can also check out other MIT articles on what other rules the DSA brings for users or for businesses.

The DGA focuses on the sharing of data in the digital environment. It aims to create a clear legal framework for private sector data sharing and management within the European Union.

The DGA is designed to promote trust in digital services and facilitate access to data for innovative businesses, while maintaining a high standard of data protection. The Act also ensures that data is managed transparently and securely, contributing to the development of the digital single market and strengthening the EU's competitiveness in the global digital economy.

The draft law designates the Czech Telecommunications Office as the supervisory authority, the so-called digital services coordinator. The Office for Personal Data Protection will also gain supervisory powers in the area of personal data protection. The draft also sets out penalties for breaches of obligations, the level of which is already based on European rules.

More information about the Digital Services Act and the Data Governance Act is available on the MIT website.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.