On March 13, in celebration of World Consumer Day, Romy Schaus, head of the online platforms service at the Luxembourg competition authority, took part in a roundtable focused on the rights and obligations of professionals and consumers in online commerce. This event was organized by the Directorate for Consumer Protection in collaboration with the Luxembourg Union of Consumers and the European Consumer Centre Luxembourg.

The event, initiated by the Minister of Consumer Protection, Martine Hansen, featured a keynote speech by Christian Baudis, a futurist and former CEO of Google Germany, who discussed how digitalization and artificial intelligence influence consumer behavior.

The roundtable, moderated by journalist Pit Everling, brought together experts from various fields to discuss the rights and obligations of businesses and consumers in online commerce. Participants included Claire Gayrel, a lawyer specializing in the Digital Markets Act from the European Commission; Italo di Lorenzo, head of public policy at Amazon Luxembourg; Romy Schaus from the competition authority; and Bob Schmitz, a lawyer in EU consumer law from the Luxembourg Union of Consumers.

The participation of the competition authority in this event aligns with its close cooperation with the Directorate for Consumer Protection to implement the new rules of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and to raise awareness among users and online platforms about these regulations.

The DSA primarily aims to ensure a safe and responsible online environment, imposing specific rules on online intermediary services, with additional obligations for very large platforms that reach over 10% of the 450 million consumers in Europe.

As the Digital Services Coordinator for the implementation of the DSA in Luxembourg, the competition authority is responsible for ensuring the proper application of these rules within the country.