Article 2(a) of Directive 2000/31 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the internal market must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘information society services’, within the meaning of that provision, covers the provision of online information services for which the service provider is remunerated, not by the recipient, but by income generated by advertisements posted on a website.

Directive 2000/31 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the internal market does not preclude a Member State from adopting rules of civil liability for defamation, applicable to information society service providers established in its territory, since Article 3(1) thereof provides that each Member State is to ensure that the information society services provided by a service provider established in its territory comply with the national provisions applicable in the Member State in question which fall within the coordinated field, that field covering, inter alia, as is provided for by Article 2(h) of that directive, the service provider’s rules of civil liability.

The limitations of civil liability specified in Articles 12 to 14 of Directive 2000/31 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the internal market do not apply to the case of a newspaper publishing company which operates a website on which the online version of a newspaper is posted, that company being, moreover, remunerated by income generated by commercial advertisements posted on that website, since it has knowledge of the information posted and exercises control over that information, whether or not access to that website is free of charge. Such a company cannot be considered to be an intermediary service provider within the meaning of Articles 12 to 14 of Directive 2000/31.

Since Article 2(b) of Directive 2000/31 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the internal market defines the concept of service provider as any natural or legal person providing an information society service, the limitations of civil liability specified in Articles 12 to 14 of Directive 2000/31 are capable of applying in the context of proceedings between individuals relating to civil liability for defamation, where the conditions referred to in those articles are satisfied.

In that regard, Articles 12 to 14 do not allow information society service providers to oppose the bringing of legal proceedings for civil liability against them and, consequently, the adoption of a prohibitory injunction by a national court. The limitations of liability provided for in those articles may be invoked by the provider in accordance with the provisions of national law transposing them or, failing that, for the purpose of an interpretation of that law in conformity with the directive. By contrast, in a case between an individual and a press company regarding an action for defamation, Directive 2000/31 cannot, in itself, create obligations on the part of individuals and therefore cannot be relied on as against them.

(see paras 49, 50, 57, operative part 4, 5)