digital economy regulation

This report gathers policy and regulatory developments at EU level covered by Cullen International’s Digital Economy and Media services over the past week. It also lists events taking place this week.

The US consumer watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) secured a US$2.5bn settlement with Amazon over alleged deceptive practices on the company’s Prime subscription service. Amazon must pay US$1bn in civil penalties to the FTC, plus US$1.5bn in restitution to about 35m affected customers. In addition to the company itself, the settlement held two Amazon executives liable as individuals.

The US consumer watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), settled a case against a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. with a US$10m civil penalty for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 involving YouTube videos. This was the first time that the FTC enforced COPPA against a content provider, rather than an online platform.

The Advocate General adopts a broad interpretation of the coordinated field, according to which national rules of criminal nature affecting online services can be subject to the eCommerce Directive even if they do not fall within the areas expressly harmonised by the directive. However, he acknowledges that national rules imposed on non-national EU-based services could be justified by the protection of fundamental rights (dignity, children, health) if they are proportionate and limited.

This report gathers policy and regulatory developments at EU level covered by Cullen International’s Digital Economy and Media services during the last week. It also lists events taking place this week.

The Canadian DPA, the OPC, published guidance to private sector organisations on their privacy obligations when handling biometric information. The OPC proposed an eight-step guidance for organisations to align with PIPEDA requirements, including the identification of an appropriate purpose, valid consent, accuracy and accountability.