A Platform for Implementation - Online content liability, fundamental rights, and their way forward

Sammanfattning: This study evaluates the protection of fundamental rights within the liability framework of Article 17 of the CDSM Directive. The analysis is conducted under the questions: what are the defining features of the new liability framework of Article 17 CDSMD and its relation to fundamental rights? How has the implementation process of Article 17 affected the balance between fundamental rights? And finally, what can be expected of their interaction going forward? As such, the content of Article 17 was described and analysed alongside other legal and academic sources under the legal dogmatic and EU legal methods. Later, a systematization of academic opinions and the study of CJEUs case law was applied in determining how Article 17 may impact fundamental rights, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of implementation methods in mitigating these issues. It has been found that the Directive’s new rules for liability exception and ex ante safeguards towards fundamental rights do not provide for practical solutions that digital actors may rely on to balance the fundamental rights involved. Furthermore, Member States’ transpositions were not found to solve these issues at the EU level, leading to the need for a Union-wide authority that may coordinate supplementations of domestic transpositions in a harmonised manner.