Chapter 1

General Provisions

Articles 1-3

Establishes the scope, objectives, and key definitions of the Digital Services Act, including what services are covered and fundamental concepts like intermediary services, illegal content, and active recipients.

Overview

Chapter I: General Provisions

This chapter sets the foundation for the entire DSA by defining its scope, objectives, and essential terminology.

Key Elements:

  • Article 1 - Subject Matter and Scope: Establishes rules for a safe, predictable and trusted online environment where fundamental rights are protected, sets harmonized rules for intermediary services, and provides procedures for cooperation between Member States.
  • Article 2 - Scope: Applies to intermediary services offered to recipients in the Union, regardless of where providers are established. Covers mere conduit, caching, hosting, online platforms, and online search engines.
  • Article 3 - Definitions: Provides 26 essential definitions including 'intermediary service', 'recipient of the service', 'consumer', 'trader', 'illegal content', 'online platform', 'online search engine', 'very large online platform', 'distance contract', and 'active recipient'.

This chapter establishes DSA's broad territorial scope - any provider offering services to EU users must comply, making it a global standard for online platform regulation.

Articles in This Chapter

  • Article 1: Subject matter

    Article 1 establishes the Digital Services Act's foundational objectives: creating a harmonised regulatory framework for intermediary services across the EU internal market that ensures a safe, predictable, and trusted online environment while protecting fundamental rights and facilitating innovation

  • Article 2: Scope

    Article 2 defines the Digital Services Act's territorial and material scope, establishing that the regulation applies to intermediary services offered to EU users regardless of provider location, based on substantial connection to the Union, while exempting micro and small enterprises operating solely within one Member State

  • Article 3: Definitions

    Article 3 provides comprehensive definitions of 26 key terms fundamental to the Digital Services Act's application, establishing technical and legal meanings for concepts including intermediary services (mere conduit, caching, hosting), online platforms, Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines, illegal content, content moderation, recommender systems, and active recipients