11 September 2014: CJEU judgment in case Papasavvas and Others (C-291/13)
Over a week ago the CJEU issued an important judgment in this case concerning interpretation of the e-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC). While e-Commerce Directive is not per se a consumer protection measure, its provisions regulating the legal aspects of electronic commerce have a significant impact on European consumers, as well.
In this case from Cyprus Mr Papasavvas claimed damages against a newspaper company for what he considered to be defamation through articles published in the daily newspaper, which were published online on two websites. One of the questions raised was whether the e-Commerce Directive should apply at all in this case, since the websites of the newspaper were free for Mr Papasavvas to access and peruse and they only generated income from the advertisements placed on them. The question was whether the Directive should only apply to such 'information society services' that have been provided against a remuneration from the recipient? The positive answer to this question would significantly lower the level of protection granted online to internet users since many websites nowadays earn their money through advertisements rather than through financial contributors of their readers. The CJEU confirms that the 'service' does not need to be paid by the person for whom it is performed (Par. 28-30) to fall under the scope of the e-Commerce Directive, even if the definition refers to a service 'normally provided for remuneration' (Par. 27). It is sufficient that this remuneration is being paid by someone else than the recipient.
This broader scope of application could
allow the online newspaper to rely on Articles 12 and 14 of the
Directive in order to escape liability for the posted content (incl. defamation) if it could prove that it was 'merely' a 'conduit'. In
this case the online newspaper could not be qualified as such. For these
articles to apply the service provider would have to have no knowledge
or control over the information that was transmitted or stored, which
was not the case here. (Par. 40) (this and following articles refer also
to the Google France case)
The e-Commerce Directive allows for the Member States to keep on applying their rules on civil liability (incl. for defamation) to information society service providers, as long as this does not restrict the freedom to provide them from another MS. (Par. 33-34) Since in the given case the services originated in Cyprus, the rules on civil liability for defamation could be applicable.
However, if the Cyprus did not implement the provisions of the Directive in time its provisions may not be directly invoked by the parties. The Directive does not have a direct horizontal effect, which means that the national service providers could only rely on the national provisions implementing it and not on the rights granted to them by the Directive itself. Failing the timely interpretation, the national court is obliged to the consistent interpretation of the national law with the EU law. (Par. 54-56)
