Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1127 of 2 March 2023 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2065

Article 1

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

Article 2

1. In each year n the Commission shall estimate the overall annual costs that are expected to be incurred for the performance of the tasks referred to in Article 43(2) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 in the following calendar year (year n+1) in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6(1) of this Regulation. The amount of the overall annual costs estimated for the year n+1 shall be the basis for determining the overall amount of supervisory fees charged in the year n. That estimated amount shall be fully charged on the providers of designated services through the supervisory fees calculated in accordance with this Regulation.

2. When estimating the overall annual costs, the Commission shall take into account:

3. Any estimation of overall annual costs shall take into account the positive or negative amount of incurred costs as included in the report referred to in Article 8(4). In particular, in the event of a deficit, namely where the amount of estimated costs for the year n was lower than the reported costs incurred for that year, the amount of the overall annual costs estimated for year n+2 to be charged during year n+1 shall be increased by the amount of incurred deficit for year n. In the event of a surplus, namely where the amount of estimated costs for the year n exceeds the reported costs incurred for that year, the overall annual costs estimated for year n+2 to be charged during year n+1 shall be reduced by the resulting surplus for year n.

Article 3

The designated services in relation to which a supervisory fee shall be charged in a given year n shall be:

Article 4

1. In respect of each designated service subject to the supervisory fees pursuant to Article 3, the basic amount for the year n shall be calculated as the share of the overall annual costs estimated for the year n+1 in accordance with Article 2, proportionate to the number of average monthly active recipients of the designated service in line with the coefficient (U) referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, and taking into account the period during which the service has been designated in line with the coefficient (T) referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, in accordance with the following formula:

2. The coefficient (U) for the calculation of the basic amount for each designated service shall have the value set out in Annex II corresponding to the number of average monthly active recipients in terms of millions of units, rounded down to the nearest hundred thousand.

The number of average monthly active recipients of each designated service determining the applicable coefficient pursuant to the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be that resulting from data reported by the provider of the online platform or of the online search engine pursuant to Article 24(2) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, or information requested pursuant to Article 24(3) of that Regulation or any other information available to the Commission, as available on 31 August of year n.

3. The coefficient (T) for the calculation of the basic amount for each designated service shall be the proportion between the number of days during which the service is designated in year n, and the number of days of a year, calculated as follows:

In accordance with Article 33(6) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, the period of designation shall be considered to start four months after the date of notification of the designation decision pursuant to Article 33(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 and shall be considered to end four months after the notification of the termination decision pursuant to Article 33(5) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065.

Article 5

1. Each year, the concerned provider of designated service or services shall pay a supervisory fee resulting from the basic amount, or the sum of basic amounts, calculated pursuant to Article 4 for the designated service or services it provides, and the adjustments applied pursuant to this Article.

2. The overall amount of the supervisory fee charged in a given year to a given provider of designated service or services shall not exceed the maximum overall limit equal to 0,05 % of its worldwide profit in the preceding financial year. Where a provider has consolidated accounts, the consolidated worldwide profits of the group to which that provider belongs shall be considered for the purposes of determining the maximum overall limit of the fee.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the worldwide profit shall be that resulting from the best available figures from the annual financial statements relating to the last full business year presented by the provider concerned, within the meaning of one of the following:

3. Where the basic amount or the sum of basic amounts calculated pursuant to Article 4 for the designated service or services provided by a given provider exceeds the maximum overall limit set out in paragraph 2 of this Article, the overall amount of the supervisory fee charged to that provider shall be reduced to that limit.

4. The sum of any residual amounts not charged pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Article shall be charged to the remaining providers of designated services for whom the maximum overall limit is not reached, in proportion to the number of average monthly active recipients of the designated service, expressed as the coefficient (U) referred to in Article 4(2), and taking into account the period during which the service has been designated, expressed as the coefficient (T) referred to in Article 4(3), in accordance with the following formula:

Where the application of this paragraph triggers the applicability of the maximum overall limit for one or more remaining providers of designated service or services, paragraph 3 and this paragraph shall continue to apply until no residual amount remains.

Article 6

1. In accordance with Article 41(8) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, in the context of the establishment of the draft budget for year n+1, the Commission shall determine, for each relevant budget line, the estimated amount of external assigned revenues stemming from the supervisory fees that will be made available at the beginning of year n+1, as the amounts corresponding to the overall annual costs estimated for year n+1 in accordance with Article 2 of this Regulation.

The estimation pursuant to the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be accompanied by an overview prepared by the Commission indicating the elements accounted for such estimation in accordance with the different categories of costs of Article 2, to be published at the latest by 30 June of each calendar year on the Commission website.

2. At the latest by 31 August of each year, any provider of designated service or services subject to the supervisory fee pursuant to Article 3 shall provide to the Commission its latest financial statement, and any other supporting document for the determination of the maximum overall limit pursuant to Article 5 as well as, where applicable, any information necessary for the application of the fee. Where a provider does not provide the documents necessary for the determination of the maximum overall limit, it shall be presumed that this limit is not reached by that provider in that calendar year.

3. At the latest by 30 September of each year, the Commission shall communicate to each provider of designated service or services identified pursuant to Article 3 the provisional determination of the amount of supervisory fee for all designated services provided by that provider calculated in accordance with the methodology set out in Articles 4 and 5. The provider shall communicate to the Commission any observation on such calculation within two weeks from receipt of the communication of that provisional determination.

4. At the latest by 30 November of each year, account taken of the observations referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission shall adopt and notify to each provider of designated service or services identified pursuant to Article 3 of this Regulation an implementing decision adopted in accordance with Article 43(3) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, determining the supervisory fee for the designated service or services provided by that provider, calculated in accordance with the methodology set out in Articles 4 and 5 of this Regulation. The implementing decision shall establish the amounts receivable as supervisory fee within the meaning of Article 98 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and set a deadline to pay the supervisory fees by 31 December of that year. Where a decision adopted pursuant to Article 33(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 is addressed to more than one legal person, all addressees of that decision shall be jointly and severally liable for the payment of the supervisory fee in respect of the designated service or services.

Article 7

1. All supervisory fees shall be payable in euro and in accordance with the payment references provided for in the implementing decision adopted pursuant to Article 6(4).

2. Any late payment, partial payment, non-payment or non-compliance with the conditions for payment as set out in the implementing decision referred to in Article 6(4) of this Regulation shall give rise to the recovery of the amount unpaid together with interest at the rate referred to in Article 99(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. Those payments are without prejudice to the fines and periodic penalty payments applicable pursuant to Articles 74 and 76 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065.

Article 8

1. By 31 March of each year n, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council on the amount of the overall annual costs incurred for the fulfilment of its tasks pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 and the total amount of the annual supervisory fees charged pursuant to Article 6(4) of this Regulation in the preceding year (year n-1).

2. The report pursuant to paragraph 1 shall spell out the specific costs incurred for the fulfilment of the tasks referred to in Article 43(2) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 in accordance with the costs categories set out in Article 2(2) of this Regulation. The costs shall include any commitments undertaken during the year n-1, even if the payments implementing the commitments have not yet been performed.

3. The report pursuant to paragraph 1 shall indicate the overall amount of supervisory fees charged per provider of designated service or services, including the date of respective payments, any missing or late payment, on-going court’s proceeding related to the implementing decisions referred to in Article 6(4) and recovery procedures referred to in Article 7(2) related to the supervisory fees charged, at the date of finalisation of the report.

4. The report shall indicate any costs incurred pursuant to paragraph 2 that exceeded the amount of estimated costs for year n-1, or any surplus of estimated costs for year n-1 compared to the costs incurred in that year pursuant to paragraph 2, as applicable.

5. The Commission shall publish the report pursuant to paragraph 1 on its website.

Article 9

1. Costs pursuant to Article 2(1) and (2) already incurred or planned for the period from 16 November 2022 until 31 December 2023 may be added to the first estimation of costs referring to the 2024 period pursuant to Article 6(1) unless already covered by initial appropriations voted by the European Parliament and the Council for the general budget of the Union for 2023.

2. The first report pursuant to Article 8 shall be adopted by the Commission by 31 March 2024 and shall encompass the period from 16 November 2022 until 31 December 2023. For the purpose of the identification of incurred costs pursuant to Article 8(2), the costs paid out of the appropriations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be indicated separately and they shall not be taken into account for the purpose of the balance referred to in Article 8(4).

Article 10

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.