EU Advocate General: ROC registration obligations cannot be imposed on non-established online operators.

As is well known, the obligations of registration, payment of annual contributions and provision of relevant corporate information have been extended over time to categories of relevant entities in digital markets. The amendments made in 2021 by AGCOM to Resolution 666/2008 following the applicability of EU Regulation 2019/1150, which promotes fairness and transparency for commercial users of online intermediation services, included among the subjects obliged to register with the ROC, pay annual contributions and provide corporate information also providers of online intermediation services and online search engines as defined by Regulation (EU) 2019/1150, even if not established in Italy but in another Member State. Well, various entities (Airbnb, Google, Amazon Services Europe, Vacation Rentals, Expedia, among others) have sued Italy before the Court of Justice of the EU and the Advocate General's recent conclusions have highlighted that EU law and, more specifically, the E-Commerce Directive do indeed preclude the application of obligations of a general and abstract nature to an online service provider who - although operating in Italy - is nevertheless established in another Member State. Again for the Advocate General, Italy's position, which asserts that the TBR rules as incorporated in 2021 are implementing the obligations under Regulation 2019/1150, is not acceptable.