What changed between the adopted text of 2 Feb 2023 and the adopted text of 27 Feb 2024

Removed:Recital 28 d (new): (28d) Reasonable efforts should include diligent and objective measures, such as contacting the sponsor or the service providers concerned to complete or correct the information. Account should be taken of the nature and importance of the erroneous or missing information in relation to the requirements laid down by this Regulation. Reasonable efforts should also be reflected in the contractual arrangements among service providers and with the sponsor, where relevant. The provider of political advertising services should not be required to engage in excessive or costly fact-finding exercises or complex contact with the sponsor or the providers of political advertising services concerned.

Removed:Recital 29: (29) The rules on transparency, due diligence and data protection laid down in this Regulation should only apply to political advertising services, i.e. political advertising that is normally provided against remuneration, which may include a benefit in kind. The requirements should not apply to content uploaded by a user of an online intermediary service, such as an online platform, and disseminated by the online intermediary service without consideration for the placement, publication, delivery or dissemination for the specific message, unless the user has been remunerated, or received benefit in kind, by a third party for the political advertisement.

Removed:Recital 30: (30) The transparency requirements should also not apply to the sharing of information through electronic interpersonal communication services such as electronic message services or telephone calls, as long as no political advertising service is involved.

Removed:Recital 31: (31) Freedom of expression as protected by Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights covers an individual’s right to hold political opinions, receive and impart political information and share political ideas. Every limitation to it has to comply with Article 52 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and that freedom can be subject to modulations and restrictions where they are necessary and justified by the pursuit of a legitimate public interest and comply with the general principles of EU law, such as proportionality and legal certainty. That is inter alia the case where the political ideas are communicated through advertising service providers. Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of a lively democratic debate.

Removed:Recital 31 a (new): (31a) Given the importance of political advertising, it is essential that this Regulation ensures a regulatory framework which ensures full, equal and unrestricted access to political advertising services and their required transparency information for all recipients, including persons with disabilities. Therefore, it is important that accessibility requirements for providers of political advertising services are consistent with existing Union law, such as the European Accessibility Act and the Web Accessibility Directive and that Union law is further developed, so that no one is left behind as result of digital innovation.

Removed:Recital 32: (32) As regards online intermediaries, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) applies to political advertisements published or disseminated by online intermediaries through horizontal rules applicable to all types of online advertising, including commercial and political advertisements. Based on the definition of political advertising established in this Regulation, it is appropriate to provide additional granularity of the transparency requirements laid out for advertising publishers falling under the scope of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), notably very large online platforms. This concerns in particular information related to the funding of political advertisements. The requirements of this Regulation leave unaffected the provisions of the Digital Services Act, but should inform the risk assessment and mitigation obligations for very large online platforms as regards their advertising systems including the targeting and ad delivery techniques of political advertising services employed. To assist Member States and service providers, the Commission should provide guidelines on the interaction between and complementary nature of different Union legal acts and this Regulation and on the interpretation of any similar requirements therein.

Removed:Recital 33: (33) The preparation, placement, promotion, publication, delivery and dissemination of political advertising can involve a complex chain of service providers. This is the case in particular where the selection of advertising content, the selection of targeting and ad delivery criteria, the provision of data used for the targeting and delivery of an advertisement, the provisions of targeting and ad delivery techniques, the delivery of an advertisement and its dissemination may be controlled by different service providers.

Removed:Recital 34: (34) In view of the importance of guaranteeing in particular the effectiveness of the transparency and due diligence requirements including to ease their oversight, sponsors and where relevant providers of political advertising services acting on behalf of sponsors should ensure the accuracy of information that they provide. Providers of political advertising services should ensure that the relevant information they collect in the provision of their services, including the indication that an advertisement is political, is complete, and it is provided to the political advertising publisher which disseminates the political advertisement. In order to support the efficient implementation of this requirement, and the timely and accurate provision of this information, providers of political advertising services should transmit this information at the same time with the provision of the relevant service, and consider and support automating the transmission of information among providers of political advertising services by adapting their online interfaces to facilitate compliance. When providers of political advertising services become aware that information which they have transmitted has been updated, they should ensure that this updated information is communicated to the relevant political advertising publisher.

Removed:Recital 36: (36) Steps could also include advertising publishers providing an efficient mechanism for individuals to indicate that an advertisement is political, and taking effective action in response to such indications.

Removed:Recital 37: (37) While providing for specific requirements, none of the obligations laid down in this Regulation should be understood as imposing a general monitoring obligation on intermediary service providers for political content organically shared by natural or legal persons, nor should they be understood as imposing a general obligation on intermediary service providers to take proactive measures in relation to illegal content or activities which those providers transmit or store.

Removed:Recital 38: (38) Transparency of political advertising should enable individuals to understand that they are confronted with a political advertisement. Political advertising publishers should ensure the publication in each political advertisement of a clear statement that it is a political advertisement, of the identity of its sponsor and of the political campaign it is part of. Where appropriate, the name of the sponsor could include a political logo. Political advertising publishers should ensure that advertisements that are political should be correctly labelled as such and to make use of labelling which is effective, taking into account developments in relevant scientific research and best practice on the provision of transparency through the labelling of advertising. In light of technological and other developments in relevant scientific research and market practices, the Commission should adopt a delegated act establishing harmonised and efficient labelling techniques for political advertisement.

Removed:Recital 39: (39) This information should be provided in a transparency notice which should also include the identity of the sponsor and where applicable, the entity ultimately controlling the sponsor, in order to support accountability in the political process. The place of establishment of the sponsor and whether the sponsor is a natural or legal person should be clearly indicated. Personal data concerning individuals involved in political advertising, unrelated to the sponsor or other involved political actor should not be provided in the transparency notice. The transparency notice should also contain information on the dissemination period, any linked election, the amount spent for and the value of other benefits received in part or full exchange for the specific advertisement as well for the entire advertising campaign, the source of the funds used and other information to ensure the fairness of the dissemination of the political advertisement. Information on the source of the funds used concerns for instance its public or private origin, the fact that it originates from inside or outside the European Union. Information concerning linked elections or referendums should include, when possible, a link to information from official sources regarding the organisation and modalities for participation or for promoting participation in those elections or referendums. The transparency notice should be available at the moment the advertising is published or disseminated, and the information i…

Removed:Recital 40: (40) ‎Political advertising publishers should ensure that each political advertisement contains a clear indication of where the transparency notice could be easily retrieved. The presentation of the information may vary depending on the means used. In order to easily retrieve the information in the transparency notice, use could be made for instance of a link to a dedicated webpage, onscreen or via audio means, a Quick Response code (QR code), or equivalent user-friendly technical measures. The requirement that the information about the transparency notice is to be inter alia clearly visible should entail that it features prominently in or with the advertisement. The requirement that information published in the transparency notice is to be easily accessible, machine readable where technically possible, and user friendly should entail that it addresses the needs of people with disabilities. Annex I of Directive (EU) 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act) contains accessibility requirements for information, including digital information that should be used to render political information accessible for persons with disabilities.

Removed:Recital 41: (41) Transparency notices should be designed to raise user awareness and help the clear identification of the political advertisement as such. They should be designed to remain in place or remain accessible in the event a political advertisement is further disseminated for instance posted on another platform or forwarded between individuals. The information included in the transparency notice should be published when the publication of the political advertisements start and be retained for a period of ten years one year after the last publication. The retained information should also include information about political advertising which was terminated or which was taken down by the publisher and the reason for the removal.

Removed:Recital 42: (42) Since political advertising publishers make political advertisements available to the public, they should publish or disseminate that information to the public together with the publication or dissemination of the political advertisement. Where political advertising publishers become aware that a political advertisement does not fulfil the transparency requirements under this Regulation, they should make best efforts to fulfil the requirements under this Regulation. When the information cannot be completed or corrected without undue delay, political advertising publishers should not make available or should discontinue the placement, promotion, publication, delivery or dissemination to the public of the political advertisements not fulfilling the transparency requirements under this Regulation. In such situation, political advertising publishers should inform the provider of services concerned and, where relevant the sponsor, of the reasonable steps taken to fulfil the requirements under this Regulation.

Removed:Recital 42 a (new): (42a) When complying with these obligations, providers of political advertising services should act with due regard to fundamental rights, and other rights and legitimate interests. Providers of political advertising services should in particular pay due regard to freedom of expression and access to information, including media freedom and pluralism.

Removed:Recital 42 b (new): (42b) This Regulation should facilitate the work of interested actors, including researchers, in their specific role to support free and fair elections or referendums and fair electoral campaigns, including by scrutinising the sponsors of political advertisement and analysing the political advertisement landscape. Therefore, political advertising publishers which are Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) as defined in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) should make the information contained in the transparency notice available and update it, in real time, through the repositories of advertisements published pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act).

Removed:Recital 42 c (new): (42c) The Commission should establish a European repository for online political advertsiments to support political advertising publishers that are not VLOPs within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) and VLOSEs as defined in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) to comply with the provisions of this Regulation. Political advertising publishers which are not VLOPs within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) and VLOSEs as defined in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) should ensure that the information contained in the transparency notice is made available in the European repository for online political advertisements without undue delay, and no later than 24 hours. Information made available on the interface of political advertising publishers should be provided in a machine readable format according to common data structure and standards, developed by the Commission in consultation with relevant stakeholders. Information in the repositories of VLOPs and VLOSEs and information in the European repository for online political advertisements should be connected via a common application programming interface and be publicly accessible via a single portal.

Removed:Recital 44: (44) Information about the amounts spent on and the value of other benefits received in part or full exchange for political advertising services can usefully contribute to the political debate. It is necessary to ensure that an appropriate overview of political advertising activity can be obtained from the annual reports prepared by relevant political advertising publishers. To support oversight and accountability, such reporting should include information about expenditure on the targeting or delivery of political advertising in the relevant period, aggregated to campaign or candidate. To avoid disproportionate burdens, those transparency reporting obligations should not apply to enterprises qualifying under Article 3, paragraphs 1 to 3, of Directive 2013/34/EU.

Removed:Recital 45: (45) Political advertising publishers providing political advertising services should put in place mechanisms to enable individuals to report to them that a particular political advertisement which they have published does not comply with this Regulation. The mechanisms to report such advertisement should be easy to access and use, and should be adapted to the form of advertising distributed by the advertising publisher. As far as possible, these mechanisms should be accessible from the advertisement itself, for instance on the advertising publisher’s website. Political advertising publishers should be able to rely on existing mechanisms where appropriate . Where political advertising publishers are online hosting services providers within the meaning of the Digital Services Act, with regards to the political advertisements hosted at the request of the recipients of their services, the provisions of Article 16 of the Digital Services Act continue to apply for notifications concerning non-compliance of such advertisements with this Regulation. Where political advertising publishers are online hosting services providers within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), with regard to the political advertisements hosted at the request of the recipients of their services, political advertising publishers should be able to rely on the notice mechanism pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) for notifications concerning non-compliance of s…

Removed:Recital 45 a (new): (45a) Where a particular advertisement does not comply with this Regulation, mechanisms provided by the publisher should enable individuals to flag the advertisement concerned. Where those mechanisms are not available, individuals should be able to report such political advertisement directly to the competent authorities.

Removed:Recital 45 b (new): (45b) The political advertising publishers should make reasonable efforts to address in a timely, diligent and objective manner the notifications received pursuant to this Regulation, by contacting the relevant service providers and, as relevant, the sponsor. The political advertising publisher should inform the author of the notification and the service providers concerned of the follow up given to the notification and provides information on redress possibilities, including under Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a, in respect of the advertisement to which the notification relates. Where a notification contains sufficient information to enable a diligent provider of political advertising services to identify, without a detailed examination and complex contact process, that it is clear that information is missing or incomplete, the political advertising publisher should act without undue delay. / 1a Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers and repealing Directive 2009/22/EC (OJ L 409, 4.12.2020, p. 1).

Removed:Recital 45 c (new): (45c) In order to ensure the effectiveness of the transparency and due diligence requirements during an election or a referendum, political advertising publishers should process, within the last month preceding the election or the referendum, any notification that they receive about an advertisement linked to this vote without undue delay and no later than 48 hours, by contacting the services providers concerned and, where relevant, the sponsor. Political advertising publishers that are micro and small enterprises should process any such notification without undue delay.

Removed:Recital 45 d (new): (45d) Any action taken by a political advertising publisher should strictly target the correction, completion or removal of specific items of information not in compliance with this Regulation. In doing so, it should have due regard for freedom of expression and information, and other fundamental rights.

Removed:Recital 46: (46) In order to allow specific entities to play their role in democracies, it is appropriate to lay down rules on the transmission of information published with the political advertisement or contained in the transparency notice to interested actors such as vetted researchers, journalists, civil society organisations and accredited election observers, in order to support the performance of their respective roles in the democratic process. Providers of political advertising services should not be required to respond to requests which are manifestly unclear, excessive or concern information not within control of the service provider. Further, the relevant service provider should be allowed to charge a reasonable fee in case of repetitive and costly requests, taking into account the administrative costs of providing the information.

Removed:Recital 47: (47) Personal data collected directly from individuals, or indirectly such as observed or inferred data, when grouping individuals according to their assumed interests or derived through their online activity, behavioural profiling and other analysis techniques, is increasingly used to target political messages to groups or individual voters or individuals, and to amplify their impact. On the basis of the processing of personal data, in particular data considered sensitive under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council[1] and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council[2], different groups of voters or individuals can be segmented and their characteristics or vulnerabilities exploited for instance by disseminating the advertisements at specific moments and in specific places designed to take advantage of the instances where they would be sensitive to a certain kind of information/message. That has specific and detrimental effects on citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms with regard to the processing of their personal data and their freedom to be treated fairly and equally, not to be manipulated, to receive objective information, to form their opinion, to make political decisions and exercise their voting rights. This furthermore negatively impacts the democratic process as it enables a fragmentation of the public debate about important societal issues, predatory voter analysis, selective outreach and, ultimately, t…

Removed:Recital 47 a (new): (47a) The existing avenues under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 for lawfully tailoring and addressing advertising to individuals are subject to systemic abuse, especially with regard to collecting the free and informed consent of individuals, which cannot be solved under the current regulatory framework.

Removed:Recital 47 b (new): (47b) Dark patterns on online interfaces of online platforms are practices that materially distort or impair, either on purpose or in effect, the ability of users of the service to make autonomous and informed choices or decisions concerning the personal data they provide for the purpose of political advertising. Providers of online platforms should therefore be prohibited from nudging users of the service and from distorting or impairing the autonomy, decision-making, or choice of the users.

Removed:Recital 47 c (new): (47c) This should also include repeatedly requesting a user of the service to make a choice where such a choice has already been made, making the procedure of cancelling a service significantly more cumbersome than signing up to it, or making certain choices more difficult or time-consuming than others or by default settings that are very difficult to change, and so unreasonably bias the decision making of the user of the service, in a way that distorts and impairs their autonomy, decision-making and choice. However, rules preventing dark patterns should not be understood as preventing providers to interact directly with users of the service and to offer new or additional services to them. The systematic use of dark patterns, unclear consent agreements, misleading information, and insufficient time to read terms and conditions are common practices to make it difficult for users of the service to have clear information and control in the context of the surveillance-based online advertising industry.

Removed:Recital 47 d (new): (47d) In order to protect individuals with regards to the way and purposes for which their personal data is processed, and in particular in contexts relevant for influencing their democratic choices and their involvement in the public debate, as well as to protect democracy and the integrity of elections, it is necessary to complement Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 by adding further restrictions, which should take the form of strict limitations on the processing of personal data for targeting and ad delivery of online political advertising, based on Article 16 of the TFEU.

Removed:Recital 47 e (new): (47e) Targeting and ad delivery techniques based on certain conditions and on strictly limited amount of provided personal data that are not special categories of personal data within the meaning of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or of Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 can be useful in disseminating political advertising and information and in reaching out and informing citizens.

Removed:Recital 47 f (new): (47f) Targeting and ad delivery techniques that involve the processing of personal data should only be allowed based on personal data which are explicitly provided by the data subject to the advertising publisher for the specific and sole purpose of receiving targeted political advertisement. Providers should not request consent where the data subject exercises his or her right to object by automated means using technical specifications, in line with Article 21(5) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. In the event that the data subjects refuses to consent, or has withdrawn consent, he or she should be given other fair and reasonable options to access information society services. Refusing consent should not be more difficult or time consuming to the data subject than its giving. The processing of observed or inferred personal data, in line with the European Data Protection Board Guidelines 8/2020 on the targeting of social media users, should not be allowed. Without such restriction imposed on targeting and ad delivery techniques, the targeting and ad delivery of political advertising based on personal data would be likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons.

Removed:Recital 47 g (new): (47g) Provided personal data should only include categories of personal data explicitly and actively provided by the data subject for the specific and sole purpose of being targeted with political advertisement by the data controller to whom it has been provided. Data subjects should not be targeted with political advertisements by data controllers to whom they have not provided their personal data. When providing the data to the publisher, it should be entered into the publisher’s interface or settings. The processing of any data concerning the data subjects which would otherwise be processed in the course of the normal use of the service, such as metadata, traffic and location data or the content of communications, whether personal or public, should therefore be excluded.

Removed:Recital 47 h (new): (47h) Some well-resourced political candidates or parties might circumvent the restrictions on targeting techniques with in-house services that conduct large-scale political marketing. Therefore, when sponsors process personal data for direct targeted political marketing, such as sending targeted electronic mail or text messages, at a large-scale and on a systematic basis, the restrictions on targeting techniques should apply, regardless of whether a service is involved or not. This does not affect the fact that the restrictions on targeting and ad delivery techniques should not apply to merely direct communication, including personalized electronic mails or text messages that are not targeted direct marketing at a large scale, and organic content published by using online intermediary services without consideration for the placement, publication or dissemination for the specific message.

Removed:Recital 47 i (new): (47i) In order to protect elections and referendums and prevent any undue interference, manipulation and disinformation, it is necessary to add further restrictions regarding targeting and ad delivery in the period immediately preceding the election or referendum .In the 60 days preceding any election or referendum, targeting and ad delivery techniques in the context of political advertising that involve provided personal data should be strictly limited to using location and the languages spoken by the data subject. The fact that a person is a first time voter could also be used as it is important to reach out to such persons and provide them with information regarding the election or referendum. The location of the data subject used to deliver targeted political advertisement should be understood being at the level of the constituency which is applicable in the relevant election or referendum. However, in the Member States which have only one national level constituency for European Parliament elections, the location of the data subject could be understood being at regional or equivalent level in accordance with national law, for political advertising related to those elections.

Removed:Recital 47 j (new): (47j) The prohibition and restrictions regarding the processing of personal data for political advertising should not prevent sponsors, political advertising publishers or providers of advertising services, including online platforms, from displaying online political advertising based on contextual information, including keywords. This limitation is proportionate in light of the fact that sponsors have access to other avenues for their political advertising, notably through contextual targeting online and through alternative media offline. This limitation complies with the right to impart information and ideas of general interest which the public is entitled to receive because this right may be circumscribed in some circumstances, if the circumscription is carried out reasonably, carefully and in good faith, and if it is proportionate and justified by relevant and sufficient reasons, in particular, for the protection of the rights of others.

Removed:Recital 47 k (new): (47k) When selecting targeting parameters, sponsors delineate a potential audience for their political advertising. However, depending on the budget they dedicate to their advertising campaign, their political advertisement will not necessarily reach such entire potential audience. The publisher will have to select whom, from that potential audience, will actually receive the political advertisement. In order to prevent the creation of echo chambers and filter bubbles and to prevent demographic skews along race or gender, resulting in forms of discrimination, online platforms should not be allowed to selectively deliver political advertisement within the targeted potential audiences based on further processing of personal data. The actual recipients of the political advertisement should therefore only be randomly selected by the publisher, without any further processing of personal data.

Removed:Recital 47 l (new): (47l) The extensive transparency obligations provided for in this Regulation will also be helping to make it impossible to proclaim, unnoticed, opposing and polarizing messages to specific parts of the electorate, because watchdogs, civil society, journalists and other parts of the electorate will be able to perform their scrutiny.

Removed:Recital 48: deleted

Removed:Recital 49: (49) In order to ensure enhanced transparency and accountability, when making use of targeting and ad delivery techniques in the context of political advertising involving the processing of personal data, controllers should implement additional safeguards. They should adopt and implement a policy describing the use of such techniques to target individuals or deliver the content of their ad, make annual risk assessments of the use of those techniques on the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals and the society as a whole and keep record of their relevant activities. When publishing, promoting, delivering or disseminating a political advertisement making use of targeting techniques, controllers should provide, together with the political advertisement, meaningful information to allow the concerned individual to understand the logic involved and main parameters of the targeting used, and the use of third-party data and additional analytical techniques, including whether the targeting of the advertisement was further optimised during delivery.

Removed:Recital 50: (50) Political advertising publishers making use of targeting or ad delivery techniques should include in their transparency notice information necessary to allow the concerned individual to understand the logic involved and main parameters of the technique used, and the use of third-party data and additional analytical techniques used and a link to the relevant policy of the political advertising service provider. In case the political advertising service provider is different from the advertising publisher the service provider should transmit to the political advertising publisher the internal policy or a reference to it. Providers of advertising services should, as necessary, transmit to the political advertising publisher the information necessary to comply with their obligations under this Regulation. The provision of such information could be automated and integrated in the ordinary business processes on the basis of standards.

Removed:Recital 51: (51) In order to further empower individuals to exercise their data protection rights, political advertising publishers should provide additional information and effective tools to the concerned data subject to support the exercise of their rights under the EU data protection legal framework including to withdraw their consent when targeted with a political advertisement. This information should also be easily accessible directly from the transparency notice. The tools made available to the individuals to support the exercise of their rights should be effective to prevent an individual from being targeted with political advertisements, as well as to prevent targeting on the basis of specific criteria and by one or several specific controllers.

Removed:Recital 52: (52) The Commission should draw up guidelines to support the exercise of data subjects’ rights in this context.

Removed:Recital 53: (53) Information to be provided in accordance with all requirements applicable to the use of targeting and ad delivery techniques under this Regulation should be presented in a format which is easily accessible, complete, clearly visible and user-friendly, including through the use of plain language and suitable for persons with disabilities.

Removed:Recital 54: (54) It is appropriate to lay down rules on the transmission of information on targeting and ad delivery to other interested entities. The applicable regime should be consistent with the regime for the transmission of information linked to the transparency requirements.

Removed:Recital 55: (55) Providers of political advertising services established in a third country that offer services in the Union should designate a mandated legal representative in the Union that is registered with the national single contact point, to allow for effective oversight of this Regulation in relation to those providers. The legal representative could be the one designated on the basis of Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or the representative designated on the basis of Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act). Member States should keep a publicly available register of all legal representatives registered on their territory under this Regulation, and the Commission should keep a publicly available and easily accessible database of legal representatives registered within the Union.

Removed:Recital 56: (56) In the interest of the effective supervision of this Regulation, it is necessary to entrust oversight authorities with the competence to monitor and enforce the relevant rules and endow them with resources commensurate with such additional competences. Depending on the legal system of each Member State and in line with existing Union law including Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), different national judicial or administrative authorities may be designated to that effect.

Removed:Recital 57: (57) As regards the supervision of online intermediary services under this Regulation, Member States should designate competent authorities and ensure that such supervision is coherent with the competent authorities designated pursuant to Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act). Digital Services Coordinators, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), in each Member State should in any event be responsible for ensuring coordination at national level in respect to those matters and engage, where necessary, cross-border cooperation with other Digital Services Coordinators following the mechanisms laid down in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act). In the framework of application of this Regulation, this mechanism should be limited to the national cooperation across Digital Services Coordinators [and should not include the escalation to the Union level as provided by the Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act).

Removed:Recital 58: (58) For the oversight of those aspects of this Regulation that do not fall within the competence of the supervisory authorities under Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Regulation (EU) 2018/725 and Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), Member States should designate competent authorities to monitor and enforce relevant rules. To support the upholding of fundamental rights and freedoms, the rule of law, democratic principles and public confidence in the oversight of political advertising it is necessary that such authorities are structurally independent from external intervention or political pressure and are appropriately empowered effectively monitor and take the measures necessary to ensure compliance with this Regulation, in particular the obligations laid down in Article 7. Member States may designate, in particular, the national regulatory authorities or bodies under Article 30 of Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council13.

Removed:Recital 58 a (new): (58a) For the purpose of the exercise of their powers under this Regulation, the competent authorities referred to in Article 15 and the European Data Protection Board should be provided with sufficient resources.

Removed:Recital 59: (59) Where rules already exist under Union law regarding the provision of information to competent authorities and cooperation with and between those authorities such as Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), or those contained in Regulation (EU) 2016/679, those rules should apply mutatis mutandis to the relevant provisions of this Regulation.

Removed:Recital 60: (60) Authorities competent for the oversight of this Regulation should cooperate with each other both at national and at EU level making best use of existing structures including national cooperation networks, the European Cooperation Network on Elections as referred to in Recommendation C(2018) 5949 final, the European Board for Digital Services as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) and the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services established under Directive 2010/13/EU. Such cooperation should facilitate the swift, secured exchange of information on issues connected to the exercise of their supervisory and enforcement tasks pursuant to this Regulation, including by jointly identifying infringements, sharing findings and expertise, and liaising on the application and enforcement of relevant rules.

Removed:Recital 60 a (new): (60a) Within the framework of the European Cooperation Network on Elections, a permanent Network of National Contact Points should be established to serve as platform for the regular exchange of information, and for structured cooperation, between national contact points and the Commission concerning all aspects of this Regulation. It should work in close cooperation with the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services and other relevant athorities and networks.

Removed:Recital 61: (61) With a view to facilitating the effective application of the obligations set out in the regulation, it is necessary to empower national authorities to request from the services providers the relevant information on the transparency of political advertisement. Information to be transmitted to competent authorities could concern an advertising campaign, be aggregated by years or concern specific advertisements. In order to ensure that the requests for such information can be complied with in an effective and efficient manner, and at the same time that the providers of political advertising services are not subject to any disproportionate burdens, it is necessary to set certain conditions that those requests should meet. In the interest of the timely oversight of an election process in particular, providers of political advertising services should quickly respond to requests from competent authorities, and always within 10 working days upon receipt of the measure. In the last month preceding an election or a referendum, an infringement of this Regulation should be deemed to negatively and severely affect individuals’ rights and therefore providers of political advertising services should provide the requested information without undue delay and, in case they are not micro or small enterprises, no later than 48 hours. In the interest of legal certainty and in compliance with the rights of defence, requests to provide information from a competent authority should contain an a…

Removed:Recital 62: (62) Member States should designate a national contact point at Union level for the purpose of this Regulation. The contact point should, if possible, be a member of the European Cooperation Network on Elections. The contact point should facilitate cooperation among competent authorities between Member States in their supervision and enforcement tasks, in particular by intermediating with the contact points in other Member States and with other competent authorities in their own.

Removed:Recital 63: (63) Member States authorities should ensure that infringements of the obligations laid down in this Regulation are sanctioned by administrative fines or financial penalties. When doing so, they should take into account the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement in view of the public interest at stake, the scope and kind of activities carried out, as well as the size and economic capacity of the infringer. In that context, the crucial role played by the obligations laid down in Articles 3a, 5, 7, 7a, 7b and 12 for the effective pursuit of the objectives of the present Regulation should be taken into account and infringements of those Articles should be regarded as particularly serious. Furthermore, they should take into account whether the service provider concerned systematically or recurrently fails to comply with its obligations stemming from this Regulation, including by delaying the provision of information to interested entities, as well as, where relevant, whether the provider of political advertising services is active in several Member States. Financial penalties and administrative fines shall in each individual case be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, with due regard to the provision of sufficient and accessible procedural safeguards, and in particular to ensure that the political debate remains open and accessible.

Removed:Recital 63 a (new): (63a) Member States should lay down rules on penalties, including administrative fines and financial penalties, applicable to infringements of this Regulation and should ensure that those rules are effectively enforced. The fines and penalties provided for should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States may also impose periodic penalty payments for serious and repeated violation of this Regulation. At Union level, the Network of National Contact Points should facilitate the development of a harmonised approach on sanctions applicable at national level.

Removed:Recital 65: (65) Member States should publish the exact duration of their electoral periods, established according to their legislation and electoral traditions, sufficiently in advance of the beginning of the electoral calendar.

Removed:Recital 67: (67) Within two years after each election to the European Parliament, the Commission should submit a public report on the evaluation and review of this Regulation. In preparing that report the Commission should take into account the implementation of this Regulation in the context of other elections and referendums taking place in the Union. The report should review inter alia the continued suitability of the provisions of this Regulation and its annexes and consider the need for their revision. In particular, the Commission should assess the appropriateness of the scope and definitions and the effectiveness of the obligations, the governance and enforcement provisions, including in the light of technological progress, market developments and new scientific evidence.

Removed:Recital 68 a (new): (68a) In the interest of ensuring that a high level of transparency and strengthened individual personal data protections are provided for political advertising in the context of the European Parliament elections 2024, political advertising service providers should ensure that the labelling and transparency notice requirements are complied with immediately, notwithstanding the availability of supplementary elements to be provided by the Commission. Political advertising publishers should make best efforts to ensure the availability of transparency notices notwithstanding the availability of a European repository for online political advertising.