Anyone who provides internet-based services must consider whether their service falls under the DSA. Norid has concluded that our services – both the name service and the registration service – fall outside the scope of the DSA, and thus also the proposed act on digital services.
In Norid's consultation response to the proposed act (Norwegian only), we briefly describe our services and explain why they fall outside the scope of the DSA. On the Government's website, you will find both the proposed act and all the consultation responses (Norwegian only) that has been submitted.
We have also previously published an article on why Norid has concluded that our services fall outside the scope of the DSA. Here you will find the legal analyses that have been carried out for Norid in this area.
The role of registrars and the DSA
The DSA, and consequently the Norwegian act on digital services (digitaltjenesteloven), regulate so-called intermediary services. In order for something to be considered an intermediary service, it must be an information society service (as defined in EU Directive 2015/1535) and also fall under one of the following categories:
- mere conduit
- caching
- hosting
Although we have not conducted an assessment of the technical functionality that each individual registrar uses to connect to Norid's registration service, we still find it difficult to see how the implementation of tasks related to the role as a registrar 1 could fall under the scope of the DSA.
In our consultation response, we have asked the Ministry to clarify in the preparatory works that Norid will not be subject to the DSA with regard to both the name service and the registration service. And correspondingly, that the registrars are not subject to the act with regards to the services you provide in your role as a registrar. A statement in the preparatory works will provide more legal clarity and predictability for the actors in the domain area.
If a registrar offers additional services, including web hosting, email, and tools to create webpages, some of these services may still fall under the DSA. This is not part of your tasks as registrars and is not regulated by Norid's registrar agreement. Each individual registrar must assess their own services in relation to the act when implemented. Here it is important to note that the DSA regulates specific services and not an entire business enterprise, and that there are different requirements for the different service categories.
- 1. The tasks of the registrars are described in more detail in Norid's registrar agreement