The Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services aims to ensure a predictable, sustainable and trusted online business environment within the EU internal market. It recognises the increasing dependence of businesses, particularly SMEs, on online intermediation services such as e-commerce marketplaces, app stores, and social media platforms, and addresses imbalances in bargaining power that may lead to unfair trading practices.

Under the Regulation, providers of online intermediation services must ensure transparency in their terms and conditions, ranking practices, and data use policies. They are required to provide clear statements of reasons for any restriction, suspension, or termination of services, and to maintain fair processes for handling complaints. The Regulation also applies to online search engines, requiring disclosure of the main parameters determining ranking and any differentiated treatment between the provider’s own services and those of business users.

To monitor compliance and support enforcement, the European Commission established the Observatory on the Online Platform Economy and issued non-binding guidelines on ranking transparency.