Although the Digital Services Act (DSA) primarily targets EU Member States, its effects extend far beyond Europe, impacting companies worldwide, including those in Switzerland. This article examines how the DSA affects Swiss businesses and provides a clear, step-by-step guide to determine its applicability to companies based in Switzerland.
1. Understanding the Digital Services Act (DSA) and its scope
The DSA seeks to create a new regulatory structure for digital services, with a focus on online B2B and B2C “intermediary services” that facilitate the transmission or storage of third-party content for users. This includes providers of:
- mere conduit services (e.g. internet exchange points, wireless access points, virtual private networks and DNS services);
- caching services (e.g. content delivery networks, reverse proxies and content adaptation proxies);
- hosting services (e.g. cloud computing and web hosting);
- online platforms (e.g. social networks and online marketplaces); and
- online search engines.
2. Impact on Swiss Companies
The DSA applies to online intermediary services, no matter where they are located, as long as they operate within the EU and have a “substantial connection” to the EU. A “substantial connection” is established if the service provider:
- has an establishment in the EU; or
- targets its activities towards one or more EU Member States; or
- has a significant number of users in one or more EU Member States.
3. Checking DSA Applicability: A Step-by-Step Guide
However, in practical terms, how can Swiss companies determine if the DSA is applicable to their operations or not? To help you with this, we have created the following step-by-step guide. Please follow these steps to assess whether the DSA is applicable to your business operations.
(1) Does your digital service align with the DSA's definitions of online intermediary services (as described above in section 1)?
(2) Is your business physically or legally established within an EU Member State?
(3) Does your business target EU users? Indications of this include offering content in EU languages, providing shipping options to EU countries, facilitating transactions in EUR, using an EU top-level domain, providing local advertising in a particular Member State, etc.
(4) Is your service accessed by EU residents? Analyse website traffic, customer database entries, user registrations, transaction data, etc.
If you answered “yes” to the first question and “yes” to any of the questions in steps 2, 3, and 4, it is likely that the DSA is applicable to your business. To get a clear understanding, feel free to get in touch with us for a 20-minute free consultation. We can discuss how the DSA changes might affect your business and how we can help you get ready for them.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
