07.03.2024

ANCOM has launched for public consultation the draft decision on the procedure for the certification of trusted flaggers. The draft decision sets the conditions and the procedure on the award, suspension, cessation and revocation of the trusted flagger status, as per the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The trusted flaggers have a very important role in the application of the DSA.

The draft decision aims at setting the procedure for awarding the trusted flagger status, upon request, to any legally established entity having its main establishment place or residence in Romania and proving compliance with all the requirements laid down in the DSA.

Procedure of awarding the trusted flagger status

To gain the trusted flagger status, as per the DSA, the entity requesting such status must prove that it meets all the following conditions:

• it has particular expertise and competence for the purposes of detecting, identifying and notifying illegal content;
• it is independent from any provider of online platforms;
• it carries out its activities for the purposes of submitting notices diligently, accurately and objectively.

Thus, according to the draft decision, the applicant submits an application, by filling in a standard form and attaching all the documents and proofs to support that it meets the awarding conditions. The Standard form includes at least information on the organisation form, name, identification data, area of competence, language competences, information on the human and technical resources, the means and sources of financing, the organisational structure and information on the decision-making process, the detailed description of the way in which the activity is carried out and statements on own responsibility on the fulfilment of the eligibility conditions and truthfulness of the information provided in the application or in the documents attached.

The application together with the justifying documents are to be sent to ANCOM, electronically, to the dedicated e-mail address tf.dsa@ancom.ro, as an electronic document, having incorporated, attached or associated an electronic signature qualified according to the special legislation on electronic signature.

ANCOM will communicate to the applicant its decision, including if the application is rejected.

Who can be a trusted flagger

As a matter of example, the entities that can request the trusted flagger status can be industry or commercial associations (organisations of intellectual property rights owners), NGOs (organisations for the protection of consumers, of minors, of human rights, of the environment, of animal rights), public entities such as the units monitoring the online content within the national law enforcement authorities or within the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) or regulatory authorities (excepting national digital services coordinators).

Types of illegal content that can be detected, identified and notified

The phrase “illegal content” is used in keeping with an existing national or European legal framework in force. The types of illegal content that can be detected, identified and notified by the trusted flaggers, depending on their areas of competence, can be included in categories such as:

• Data protection and privacy violations;
• Illegal speech;
• Intellectual property and other commercial rights infringements;
• Non-consensual behaviour relating to personal images or information;
• Online bullying or intimidation;
• Pornography or sexualized content;
• Acts concerning minors;
• Acts concerning animals;
• Illegal/counterfeit products etc.

DSA implementation in Romania

With a view to implementing the DSA provisions in Romania, the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalisation together with ANCOM have drafted a law laying down the national legislative measures required to enforce the provisions of the European act. The draft law was adopted by the Romanian Parliament and is currently undergoing the promulgation procedure.

The draft normative act  adopted by the Parliament appoints ANCOM as a national digital services coordinator and confers on it, inter alia, duties regarding the elaboration and adoption of the secondary legislation for the implementation of the primary legislation in Romania.

The public consultation

The draft decision on the procedure of awarding the trusted flagger status is available for consultation, in Romanian, here. The interested persons are invited to send their comments and suggestions by 04.04.2024, to the ANCOM headquarters (2 Delea Nouă street, sector 3, Bucharest), via the Online Registry or through the Regional Divisions of the Authority. Comments can also be sent by fax to +40 372 845 402 or by e-mail to consultare@ancom.ro.