EDMO Ireland made a joint submission to the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Digital Services Bill 2023.
The following summarises the recommendations made:
Given the extent of Ireland’s role, it is crucial that its DSC fosters an independent, knowledgeable, and fair process for vetting research to uphold the DSA’s principles. This entails the following requirements:
- Applications and approval for vetting must be managed transparently and free from interference or commercial concerns related to the Irish-based operations of companies who would be affected by approved research requests.
- The Irish DSC must possess relevant expertise and understanding to evaluate the quality, importance, and appropriateness of research requests. This requires the DSC to have knowledge of systemic risk, platform governance, data science, and internet regulation, and to continually update this knowledge to maintain relevance and adaptability to the rapidly evolving landscape of digital services and associated risks.
- The Irish DSC will need substantial capacity to handle the processing of requests and vetting of researchers, potentially on a large scale.
While the focus of this discussion has primarily been on researcher access to data, establishing a research unit would also aid in fulfilling other DSC responsibilities, such as approving trusted flagger status, processing service provider reporting requirements, and initiating investigations.
In light of the significant responsibility Ireland will bear in managing the vetting and research approval process across the EU, we recommend that the Committee consider including a provision in the Digital Services Bill for the creation of a research unit. This unit would be responsible for facilitating research access, conducting data analysis, and managing external collaborations for these tasks. Crucially, it would emphasise maintaining up-to-date expertise and knowledge, either in-house or through partnerships with researchers and civil society groups. This addition would ensure the availability of necessary expertise to support the effective implementation of the DSA at both national and international levels. Alternatively, the bill should explicitly state that the DSC research process must be independent, guided by relevant experience, and adequately staffed to fulfil its responsibilities.
