Article 14 – Judicial proceedings by representative organisations or associations and by public bodies

  1. Organisations and associations that have a legitimate interest in representing business users or in representing corporate website users, as well as public bodies set up in Member States, shall have the right to take action before competent national courts in the Union, in accordance with the rules of the law of the Member State where the action is brought, to stop or prohibit any non-compliance by providers of online intermediation services or by providers of online search engines, with the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.
  2. The Commission shall encourage Member States to exchange best practices and information with other Member States, based on registries of unlawful acts which have been subject to injunction orders before national courts, where such registries are set up by relevant public bodies or authorities.
  3. Organisations or associations shall have the right referred to in paragraph 1 only where they meet all of the following requirements:
    1. they are properly established in accordance with the law of a Member State;
    2. they pursue objectives that are in the collective interest of the group of business users or corporate website users that they represent on a sustained basis;
    3. they are of a non-profit making character;
    4. their decision-making is not unduly influenced by any third party providers of financing, in particular by providers of online intermediation services or of online search engines.
      To this end, organisations or associations shall fully and publicly disclose information on their membership and source of financing.
  4. In Member States where public bodies have been set up, those public bodies shall have the right referred to in paragraph 1, where they are charged with defending the collective interests of business users or corporate website users or with ensuring compliance with the requirements laid down in this Regulation, in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned.
  5. Member States may designate:
    1. organisations or associations established in their Member State that meet at least the requirements of paragraph 3 at the request of those organisations or associations;
    2. public bodies set up in their Member State that meet the requirements of paragraph 4
      that are granted the right referred to in paragraph 1. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the name and purpose of any such designated organisations, associations or public bodies.
  6. The Commission shall draw up a list of the organisations, associations and public bodies designated in accordance with paragraph 5. That list shall specify the purpose of those organisations, associations and public bodies. That list shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Changes to the list shall be published without delay and, in any event, an updated list shall be drawn up and published every six months.
  7. The court shall accept the list referred to in paragraph 6 as proof of the legal capacity of the organisation, association or public body, without prejudice to the court’s right to examine whether the purpose of the claimant justifies its taking action in a specific case.
  8. If a Member State or the Commission raises concerns regarding the compliance, by an organisation or association, with the criteria laid down in paragraph 3, or, by a public body, with the criteria laid down in paragraph 4, the Member State that designated that organisation, association or public body in accordance with paragraph 5 shall investigate the concerns and, where appropriate, revoke the designation if one or more of the criteria are not complied with.
  9. The right referred to in paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to the rights of business users and corporate website users to start any action before competent national courts, in accordance with the rules of the law of the Member State where the action is brought, which is based on individual rights and aims to stop any non-compliance, by providers of online intermediation services or providers of online search engines, with the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation.