The UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which you can read more about in this November 2023 client alert, imposes extensive new obligations on certain types of online service providers. In some cases, the OSA will apply to online marketplaces and certain ancillary services – for example, where user-to-user (U2U) or search services are offered – and there are potential implications in respect of products that may be sold to consumers as a result.
The OSA imposes obligations in relation to ‘illegal content’. This may be relevant to online marketplaces that facilitate the online sale of products. Notwithstanding that offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (e.g., misleading information or omissions in listings) and offences that relate to the safety or quality of goodsare specifically excluded from the scope of ‘illegal content’, there is the possibility of online product listings being considered in scope – for example, if offering the products for sale would be considered a ‘priority offence’ due to them being specific product types (such as firearms, weapons like knives, or drugs) or, more broadly, if the goods are counterfeit.
The extent of the applicable obligations under the OSA will be determined by reference to which category a service falls into. Carolina Ljungwaldh and Mo Swart have set out a helpful summary of the latest news in relation to this categorisation of services.
Online Safety Act Update: Ofcom Proposes Categorisation Thresholds – On the Record (cooley.com)
