The Digital Services Act (DSA) has been in force for some time, but only recently has this change gained wider public awareness. Although it is not a regulation primarily aimed at e-shops, it may result in new obligations for online stores as well. In the following guide, we will show you what these obligations are and how to easily implement them in WooCommerce.
What is the Digital Services Act (DSA)?
The Digital Services Act is a European Union regulation concerning providers of digital intermediary services. If your e-shop allows visitors to submit content (reviews, comments, images, etc.), you are also considered such a provider and must comply with this regulation.
TIP: If users submit content to your website via a third party (e.g., reviews from comparison websites or comments from social media), this regulation does not apply to you.
What must you comply with under the DSA?
If the DSA applies to your e-shop, you must:
- publish on your website a contact email address and the language for communication with the Czech Telecommunication Office
- implement a form for reporting illegal content
- inform users under what conditions and how you restrict third-party content, and moderate it. For example, you can include this information in your terms and conditions.
How to implement DSA requirements in WooCommerce?
Let’s take a look at how to easily meet the technical requirements of the Digital Services Act. For this purpose, we will use the plugin Toret Toolkit, which was created in cooperation with legal experts specifically to help e-shops comply with legal requirements. You can purchase the Toolkit plugin here, and our documentation will help you with the setup.
Publishing the contact address and communication language
To display the email address and communication language, you can use the shortcode provided by the plugin. This allows you to quickly insert the required information into any page and easily change the email or languages in the plugin administration if needed. How to do it?
1. Go to the Toolkit plugin administration and open the Digital Services Act tab.
2. In the Main settings section, enter the email address you want to use for communication with the Czech Telecommunication Office.
3. Select the communication language. Hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple languages.
4. Save the changes.
5. Copy the shortcode and insert it into the page where you want to display the information.
Form for reporting illegal content
The form for reporting illegal content is designed in accordance with DSA requirements. You can insert the form into the desired page using a shortcode. Submitted reports will appear in the plugin administration, and you can also choose to receive them via email. How to do it?
1. Go to the Toolkit plugin administration and open the Digital Services Act tab.
2. In the Illegal content reporting form settings section, enter the email address for receiving reports.
3. You can also edit the text displayed on the Submit button here. If you leave the field empty, the default text will be used.
4. Save the changes.
5. Copy the shortcode and insert it into the page where you want the form to be displayed.
You now have a form for reporting illegal content set up in accordance with the DSA. It will look like this:
Comply with legislation using Toolkit today
As you can see, setting up the form and displaying the required DSA information is simple with Toolkit and can be done without programming knowledge. In addition, Toolkit helps you comply with consumer protection law and the Price Act, while also offering other useful features that improve the customer journey and save you time. Get your Toolkit today.
Due to the complexity of the issue and the risk of penalties in case of non-compliance, we recommend consulting legal matters related to your e-shop with qualified professionals. This article is not intended to replace legal advice nor does it provide a comprehensive overview of all legislative requirements for operating an online store.
Source:
Czech Telecommunication Office guide to the DSA regulation https://ctu.gov.cz/sites/default/files/obsah/stranky/506397/soubory/pruvodce_pro_poskytovatele.pdf