Position paper - Recommendations on Fairness in Platform-to-Business Relations

The proposed Regulation on Fairness in Platform to Business Relations has the potential to allow a higher degree of legal certainty, preserving the integrity and potential of the internal market and enhancing trust in an innovative European platform economy, which currently features a significant amount of self-regulation. While self-regulation provides a helpful degree of flexibility it can also lead to an ecosystem lacking transparency and, at times, accountability. In trying to solve problems related to dependencies from online intermediaries, the Regulation does not lend itself to a broader extension of scope beyond intermediary services, and should not needlessly prohibit business practices which do not cause harm and, in fact, deliver significant consumer value. Moreover, the Regulation should not favour certain business models over others, nor should it limit or severely hinder platforms’ ability to offer users services they increasingly require or prevent small emerging platforms and start-ups from scaling up and competing.