European legislation (DSA) within bol

DSA stands for Digital Services Act. It is new European legislation that applies to bol from 17 February 2024. DSA aims to make online platforms safe for users and protect their rights.

The DSA requires bol to keep our platform as transparent, reliable and safe as possible. The goal of the DSA is to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation. It protects user safety and fundamental rights, and creates a fair and open online platform environment. The DSA also ensures more online transparency about things like an item’s manufacturer or how to contact a seller.

1. Complete your product information

The DSA requires you to provide specific product details. You are probably already including many of them in your listings. Please check if your product information complies and includes:

• Details such as pricing, quantity and product specifications (the pre-contractual information);
• Information about product compliance and product safety;
• A unique article number, such as an EAN (European Article Number);
• Any trademark, symbol or logo you use as a seller;
• Labelling and marking on product safety and compliance according to European legislation.

Responsible operator within the EU

In addition, you are legally obliged to provide information about the responsible economic operator within the EU. This can be the manufacturer, agent, importer, distributor, fulfilment services provider or any other natural person or legal entity who have obligations regarding the manufacturing, making them available on the market or putting them into service in accordance with the relevant Union harmonisation legislation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, article 3.13).
The information we are required to provide to customers under the DSA is:

• The responsible operator within the EU*’s name, address, phone number and email address. Are you unsure who this is? Enlist the support of a legal consultant.

If any of these details are missing, you will be unable to sell your item via bol to avoid non-compliance. We will provide you with more information about this soon.

We have updated this information. Please read the news item of 1 October 2024.
How do you add your economic operators?
We have created a step-by-step plan to explain how you can create and manage economic operators.

2. Complete your information before 1 January 2015

To comply with the DSA, all details on your seller dashboard have to be correct and up to date. Be sure to check your name, address, phone number and email address, bank account details and trade register number such as a Chamber of Commerce number. Are they complete and correct?

Please make sure your details are complete before 1 January 2025. If you do not comply, bol will have to (temporarily) suspend your seller account in accordance with the DSA. Of course, we hope it will not come to this, so we will send you regular reminders in the coming year.

In addition, the DSA requires anyone to be able to contact you as our partner directly, even if they are not an existing customer. To this end, the product page will now contain a link to your (encrypted) contact information, so customers can call or email you at the click of a button.

Transparency about content moderation

Under the DSA, we are required to disclose how we keep our platform safe from illegal articles or content. To keep bol safe and secure for everyone, we may monitor our range for items and/or content that do not comply with current laws and regulations. If we find an item or product information to be non-compliant, we reserve the right to amend it or remove it from our platform altogether. This is called content moderation.

In article 21, paragraph 7 (new) of the General Sales Conditions for Professional Sales via bol.com, you find what we do to safeguard our platform’s quality. If you work according to our policies, these changes will not affect you.

Improving our misuse policy

The DSA requires us to take action against partners who repeatedly offer illegal items or content. We already do this through our policy point system. From now on, we will also undertake measures against partners who regularly:

• incorrectly report illegal items or content to bol;
• file complaints with bol that prove to be unsubstantiated.

To comply with the DSA, these changes are reflected in article 15 of the General Sales Conditions for Professional Sales via bol.com.

Independent complaints arbitration

Are you not satisfied with the way bol has handled your complaint? In the near future, you will be able to turn to an independent arbitration committee. This committee has yet to be appointed by the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM). As soon as we have more information about this, we will let you know.

Improving our complaints process

Our complaints process should be clear to everyone, which is why we will clarify it in our conditions. The way you can file a complaint, stays the same. We will, however, adjust some things in Article 19 of the General Sales Conditions for Professional Sales via bol.com. We have clarified that you can always amend or withdraw a complaint and what you can do if you have questions about our complaints process. In addition, it now clearly states that you always receive a substantiated decision and that we aim to respond within 30 business days.

Reporting illegal content made easier

Evidently, it is essential to both bol and you as our partner that our platform exudes reliability and quality. This ensures customers continue to order with us. That is why partners and third parties can use our Notice & Takedown procedure to report illegal activities, such as a breach of intellectual property.

The DSA requires that reporting illegal activities becomes more accessible for everyone. That is why we are improving our NTD-page with a button to a reporting form for non-partners. They can use this specific form to report alleged illegal activities. Reports go directly to the relevant department within bol.

For you as partner, nothing much will change as the reporting procedure remains the same for you. However, the new process for non-partners may mean that you receive more reports about illegal content, simply because it has become easier. Of course, as long as you comply with our current policies, you will not otherwise be affected.

Note: if you as partner are found to report illegal content inaccurately and too often, this may have consequences, as detailed in Improving our misuse policy.

Informing customers who bought illegal product

The product range on our platform has to meet all current legislation. Should your item not meet this requirement, we are bound by the DSA to inform customers who have bought this product. This applies to all products sold in the 6 months before their non-compliance is determined. In such an event, we will inform customers about the item, the selling partner and their rights, such as a refund or replacement of the item.

We will always notify you if it turns out you have sold an illegal item. In these cases, we deduct policy points, and in some instances, we have to take the item offline.

* Definition responsible economic operator within the EU: the manufacturer, agent, importer, distributor, fulfilment services provider or any other natural person or legal entity who have obligations regarding the manufacturing, making them available on the market or putting them into service in accordance with the relevant Union harmonisation legislation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, article 3.13).