S/C/N/100 9 
8 May 2020 
(20-3495) Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade in Services  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE III:3 OF THE  
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES  
The following notification, dated  27 April  2020, from the delegation of the European Union , is being 
circulated to Members of the Council for Trade in Services . 
 
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The following notification is made pursuant to GATS Article III:3 and relates to measures adopted 
by the European Union in 2019. Given that there is no common understanding among WTO Members 
on when a measure "significantly aff ects trade in services" within the meaning of GATS Article III:3 
and that the European Union cannot make a positive determination on this issue, it is therefore 
notifying measures that may be relevant to trade in services without prejudice to the interpret ation 
of the phrase "significantly affect trade in services" in Article III:3.  
 
 
1  MEMB ER NOTIFYING : 
The European Union  
2  NOTIFICATION UNDER : 
Article III:3 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services  
3  DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE : 
31 July 2019 (application date: 12 July 2020)  
3.1  Duration:  
Not applicable  
 
4  AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE MEASURE : 
Member States of the European Union/European Union  
5  DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE : 
a) Full title of the EU act:  
Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on 
promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (OJ L 186, 
11.7.2019, p. 57)  
b) Brief summary of the content with a focus on potential effect on services tra de: 
The Regulation on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation 
services (P2B) is the first worldwide measure to address the challenges of the online platform 
economy and lays the ground for further initiatives.  S/C/N/100 9 
- 2 - 
  The R egulation applies to all platforms and online search engines (including those from outside the 
EU) that provide services to businesses established or residing in the EU that offer goods or services 
to consumers located in the EU. It will not apply to pure online payment or advertising services.  
The Regulation addresses four main elements:  
1. High level transparency obligations that will provide clear principles on a number of aspects, 
such as changes to terms and conditions, the grounds for suspension or t ermination of the use of a 
platform, ranking, etc.  
2. Certain provisions to ensure fairness by prohibiting the most widespread and harmful trading 
practices (e.g. sudden changes to terms and conditions without sufficient advance notice, retroactive 
changes  to terms and conditions);  
3. Improved internal, external and judicial redress for business users, by requiring all but the 
smallest platforms to put in place internal complaint -handling systems and to identify mediators, 
with whom they are willing to eng age to resolve disputes.  
4. Monitoring of the evolution and emergence of issues in the digital platform economy through 
the EU Observatory set up by the Commission in 2018. A group of independent experts to support 
the work of the Observatory has been set  up and will issue a report later this year  
6  MEMB ERS SPECIFICALLY AFFECTED, IF ANY : 
N/A  
7  TEXTS AVAILABLE FROM : 
EU Official Journal, available on -line at:  
https://eur -lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/692/oj  
 
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