MPs Adopt Law Implementing the Digital Services Act

MPs have adopted the Law on the Implementation of the European Union Regulation on Digital Services (DSA), establishing a concrete accountability system for applying European rules in Montenegro. Citizens will receive clear protection online, while companies will have precisely defined obligations. Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović said the law’s purpose is to provide a national institutional, procedural and sanctions framework for implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA). As she explained, Articles 6 and 7 regulate the important issues of orders concerning illegal online content and orders to provide information, while the authority to issue such orders must be established by a separate law. “Article 11 of the law allows supervision only of internet service providers for which Montenegro has jurisdiction or that are established in Montenegro, while matters falling exclusively under the jurisdiction of the European Commission are excluded. The Agency may order content to be brought into compliance, accept a statement from an online service provider that it will remove the content or bring it into compliance with the rules, and impose an interim measure to prevent the imminent risk of serious harm. The maximum fine for a service provider is 6 percent of its worldwide annual turnover for procedural violations under Articles 15 to 17, and a maximum of 1 percent of its annual income or worldwide annual turnover for procedural violations under Article 18. These represent the upper limits of financial penalties,” Vujović said.