The Digital Services Act
The Digital Services Act (DSA) regulates intermediary platforms that connect consumers with goods and services.
What is it?
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is an EU legislation that regulates how intermediary platforms that connect consumers with goods and services, like online marketplaces, moderate content on their websites.
The framework’s rules address how platforms offering services to businesses and consumers based in the EU must moderate illegal, misleading, and/or offensive content on their sites, including how users should be able to report potentially illegal content they find online.
When does the DSA come into effect?
The rules applicable to online platforms will start to apply from 17 February 2024.
What is Expedia Group doing about the DSA?
Expedia Group has evaluated the legislation and is making changes to our B2C sites, template products, travel agent products, and APIs to assist our partners in their compliance.
What does this mean for Rapid API partners?
The two areas of the DSA most impactful on our relationship with Rapid API partners are:
Content moderation: Requirements around how users should be able to report potentially illegal content provided via Rapid API. To help you comply, we will be providing Rapid API partners with an intake form on Partner Portal for partners to submit details of potentially illegal content to be reviewed by Expedia Group.
Traceability: Requirements to provide more information about our professional suppliers worldwide. To help you comply we will be providing extra fields in Rapid API related to our suppliers, such as their business registration number (if they have one). The specific parameters below will be added to the trader_information object in the Shop and Book APIs.
| Parameter | Type |
|---|---|
business_register_name | string |
business_register_number | string |
self_certification | boolean |
As with the recently implemented New Deal for Consumers legislation, it is your responsibility to ensure you are taking steps to communicate to customers and comply with these new requirements. For more information please see this article and consult your local legal authority if you have questions about your specific situation or relationship to the law. We will provide you with more information in the upcoming weeks so you can start planning your development resources before the legislation starts to apply.
What does this mean for our technology partners?
If you control a Rapid API partner’s site/booking tool that transacts within the EU you will need to make these updates and if the user interface is controlled by the partner, since the partner will be updating their display, we will need you to start coding these new fields as soon as possible.
The specific parameters below will be added to the trader_information object in the Shop and Book APIs.
| Parameter | Type |
|---|---|
business_register_name | string |
business_register_number | string |
self_certification | boolean |
Start allocating resources to these updates so they are ready before the legislation starts to apply.
Content reporting tool for Rapid API partners
Rapid API will provide a reporting mechanism by January, prior to the DSA coming into effect.
The intake form, which will be available in Portal, will allow Rapid API partners to report problems with Rapid API provided content. Rapid API teams will then investigate and respond back to you so your teams can inform the reporter of the content issue and track it.
Penalty for non-compliance
Fines for non-compliance with the Digital Services Act can reach up to 6 percent of global annual revenue.
New fields in the Rapid API response
The new fields (business_register_name, business_register_number, and self_certification) will appear in the trader_ information section in the Shop and Book APIs.
Example:
{
"status": "available",
...
"trader_information": {
"traders": [
{
"name": "Test Property Name",
"address": {
"line_1": "123 Main St",
"city": "Springfield",
"state_province_code": "MO",
"postal_code": "65804",
"country_code": "US"
},
"business_register_name": "A Real Registry",
"business_register_number": "72973910d",
"self_certification": true,
"phone": "1-417-555-1212",
"right_to_withdraw_message": "The right of withdrawal under European consumer law does not apply when you book accommodation. Supplier cancellation policy will apply "
}
],
"terms_and_conditions": "https://forever.travel-assets.com/flex/flexmanager/mediaasset/618796-0_2-UnitedKingdom_en.pdf"
},
...
}Legal notice
Please note that (i) while Expedia will investigate content flagged to us by you, we are not responsible for your compliance with the DSA; and (ii) we cannot provide legal advice on your DSA compliance. We recommend that you assess the impact of the DSA on your own business and seek independent advice if needed.