Other intermediary services
The Digital Services Act (DSA) applies to a wide range of services provided online, called ‘intermediary services’, including online marketplaces, social media and content-sharing platforms, app stores, and online travel and accommodation platforms to internet service providers and content delivery networks.
Intermediary Service Provider (ISP) Categories
The DSA applies to businesses, organisations or online services that provide online intermediary services in the EU, where ‘intermediary services’ means one of the following services:
Mere conduit service
Consisting of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network.
- Examples: internet service providers, direct messaging services, virtual private networks, domain name systems, voice over IP, top level domain name registries.
Caching service
Consisting of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, involving the automatic, intermediate and temporary storage of that information, performed for the sole purpose of making onward transmission more efficient to other recipients upon their request.
- Examples: content delivery networks, content adaptation proxies or reverse proxies.
Hosting service
Consisting of the storage of information provided by, and at the request of, a recipient of the service.
- Examples: cloud service providers, online marketplaces, social media, app stores, travel and accommodation platforms.
The rules of the DSA apply to all Intermediary Service Providers (ISPs) offering their services in the European Single Market, whether they are established in the EU or outside.
If your business, organisation or online service involves online marketplace services, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is a competent authority.
Check if the DSA applies to your service by taking our self-assessment quiz.
How to ensure compliance
The obligations applied to service providers vary by the size or category of the provider. As a first step, a provider will need to determine which of one of four categories it belongs to, noting that a single entity which provides multiple services might belong to more than one category.
For further queries, email [email protected].