Establishes liability exemptions for intermediary service providers and prohibits general monitoring obligations, while setting conditions for these exemptions and clarifying when providers may lose protection.
Overview
Chapter II: Liability of Providers of Intermediary Services
This chapter updates the liability regime originally established in the E-Commerce Directive, clarifying when intermediary services are exempt from liability for user-generated content.
The Three Liability Exemptions:
- Article 4 - Mere Conduit: Providers transmitting or providing access to information are not liable if they don't initiate transmission, select recipients, or modify the information.
- Article 5 - Caching: Providers storing information for efficient onward transmission are not liable if they don't modify data, comply with access conditions, and remove content expeditiously when required.
- Article 6 - Hosting: Providers storing information at users' request are not liable unless they have actual knowledge or awareness of illegal content and don't act expeditiously to remove it.
Important Clarifications:
- Article 7 - Voluntary Own-Initiative Investigations: Taking voluntary measures to detect and remove illegal content doesn't automatically lead to losing exemptions, clarifying providers can be proactive.
- Article 8 - No General Monitoring: Providers cannot be required to monitor all content or actively seek illegal activity (but targeted monitoring orders for specific illegal content are allowed).
- Article 9 - Orders to Act: Authorities can order providers to act against specific illegal content or provide information about specific users.