On 17 April 2019, the European Parliament approved a new Regulation on platform-to-business trading practices. It requires online platforms and online search engines to comply with certain legal obligations and also encourages them to take voluntary complimentary steps. The Regulation aims to ensure that businesses using online intermediation services and general online search engines have greater certainty and clarity with respect to the rules governing their relationships with these platforms and how to resolve potential disputes.

The text adopted by the European Parliament has not yet been formally approved by the Council of the EU. Once approved, the Regulation will enter into force 12 months after its publication in the Official Journal.Continue Reading European Parliament agrees new rules to improve fairness of online platforms