Platform-to-Business Regulation

Regulation 2019/1150 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (P2B Regulation)

Background and Scope

The P2B Regulation establishes a set of targeted mandatory rules at Union level aimed at ensuring fair, transparent and predictable commercial conditions for business users of online intermediation services and online search engines. The Regulation seeks to provide business users with adequate transparency and effective redress mechanisms across the Union, thereby facilitating cross-border trade and preventing fragmentation of the internal market. At the same time, it recognises and seeks to preserve the innovation potential of the broader platform economy.

The Regulation responds to a structural imbalance in the platform economy, where the growing dependence of businesses, in particular micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises,  on online intermediation services has given platform providers a superior bargaining position. This has in practice enabled certain providers to act unilaterally in ways that may be unfair and damaging to the legitimate interests of business users.

The Regulation applies to providers of online intermediation services and online search engines regardless of where they are established, provided that business users are based in the Union and offer goods or services to consumers located in the Union. Its scope covers a broad range of services, including online marketplaces, app stores, social media platforms and sharing platforms, while purely business-to-business services, online advertising tools and online payment services fall outside its scope.

Key Obligations

• Transparent and accessible terms and conditions: Providers of online intermediation services must ensure that their terms and conditions are drafted in plain and intelligible language and are easily accessible to business users at all stages of the business relationship.
• Advance notice of changes to terms: Providers must notify business users of proposed changes to the terms and conditions with a notice period of at least 15 days.
• Statement of reasons for restriction or termination: Where a provider decides to restrict, suspend or terminate the provision of its services to a business user, it must provide the reasons for that decision on a durable medium.
• Transparency of ranking: Providers must set out the main parameters determining ranking of goods and services, including any influence that payment may have on that ranking.
• Internal complaint-handling system: Providers of online intermediation services must provide a free and easily accessible internal system for handling complaints from business users.