NOVELTIES IN CONSUMER PROTECTION AT EUROPEAN LEVEL UNDER THE DIGITAL SERVICES ACT

Abstract

The European strategy Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, published in February 2020,
marked a turning point in the construction and delimitation of the powers of online intermediaries,
through two legislative initiatives, complementary in nature, to update and improve
legal certainty in digital business transactions: the Digital Markets Act (September 2022),
and the Digital Services Act, (October 2022). The Digital Services Act is concerned with
the creation of a common set of obligations for digital intermediaries in order to enhance,
promote and secure the rights of consumers and users online, creating a safer, fairer and more
transparent digital environment. This article examines the main novelties implemented by
this regulation, trying to offer some preliminary conclusions as to the scope of the adopted
text and the foreseeable frictions at the time of its practical application.