Official Journal of the European Union

C 63/16

(Case C-666/22)

(2023/C 63/22)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Eg Vacation Rentals Ireland Limited

Defendant: Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni

Questions referred

1.Does EU law preclude the application of national provisions, such as Article 1(515), (516) and (517) of legge 30 dicembre 2020, n. 178 (Law No 178 of 30 December 2020), which impose additional administrative and financial obligations on operators established in another European country but operating in Italy, such as the obligation to be entered in a special register and to pay a financial contribution? Specifically, do such national provisions infringe Article 3 of the Directive on electronic commerce (Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 (1)) under which a provider of information society services is subject to the legislation (…) of the Member State in which the service provider is established?

2.Does EU law preclude the application of national provisions, such as Article 1(515), (516) and (517) of Law No 178 of 30 December 2020, which impose additional administrative and financial obligations on operators established in another European country? Specifically, does the principle of freedom to provide services enshrined in Article 56 [TFEU], as well as similar principles that can be inferred from Directives 2006/123/EC (2) and 2000/31/EC, preclude a national measure that requires, for intermediaries operating in Italy but not established there, entry in a register entailing additional obligations to those envisaged in the country of origin for the pursuit of the same activity?

3.Does EU law, and in particular Directive (EU) 2015/1535, (3) require the Italian State to notify the Commission of the introduction of the obligation to be entered in the RCO, which is imposed on providers of online intermediation services and providers of online search engines? Specifically, must the second indent of Article 3(4)(b) of Directive 2000/31 be interpreted as meaning that a private individual, established in a Member State other than Italy, may object to measures adopted by the Italian legislature (under Article 1(515), (516), (517) of Law No 178 of 30 December 2020) that are liable to restrict the free movement of an information society service, when those measures were not notified in accordance with that provision?

4.Does Regulation (EU) 2019/1150, (4) and in particular Article 15 thereof, as well as the principle of proportionality, preclude legislation of a Member State or a measure adopted by an independent national authority requiring providers of online intermediation services operating in a Member State to be entered in the RCO, which gives rise to a series of formal and procedural obligations, obligations to pay contributions and restrictions on earning profits in excess of a certain amount?

(1) Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (OJ 2000 L 178, p. 1).

(2) Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ 2006 L 376, p. 36).

(3) Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ 2015 L 241, p. 1).

(4) Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (OJ 2019 L 186, p. 57).

Language of the case: Italian

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