Today, at the event

safeguarding freedom  securing justice

in Brussels, Prof. Dr. Mark D. Cole, Director for Academic Affairs at the EMR, presented a recent study of the EMR, commissioned on behalf of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, on “Legal framework and enforcement concerning cross-border dissemination of online-content”. 

This study, authored by Prof. Dr. Mark D. Cole, Ass. iur. Christina Etteldorf and Carsten Ullrich, LLM., with contributiony by Ass. iur. Jan Henrich, on the current and possible future regulations of online content and online service providers gives a detailed overview of the overall legal framework which is or can be relevant for dealing with the dissemination of online content in particular taking into account the rules of the E-Commerce-Directive. It also presents the relevant EU legislative acts including those new texts that include potential role models for a revision of the ECD. A special focus is laid on the question of liability for online content in light of the need to clarify what supervisory authorities can do in order to tackle illegal or harmful content and thereby safeguard fundamental values and principles also in the online context. The interpretation of the relevant sections of the ECD by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) is included as well as discussions about whether liability exemptions for different types of information society services (ISS) have to be reconsidered as a result of duty of care-standards. Finally, the study identifies areas that need to be resolved either by legislative action or forms of increased cooperation between Member States and competent authorities if an improved enforcement of legal standards in the online context shall be achieved. 

The study will be published in the publication series of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Executive Summary can be downloaded here:

Executive Summmary_E-Commerce study

The presentation of Prof. Dr. Mark D. Cole is available here

More information can be found on the website of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia