---

Bill to help fund regulators is passed

A bill that will impose a levy on service-providers to help fund regulators has completed its passage through the Oireachtas.

The Digital Services (Levy) Bill 2024 will now be sent to the President to be signed into law.

The bill gives Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) the power to charge the levy to fund their enforcement and regulatory functions, under the EU Digital Services Regulation and the Terrorist Content Online Regulation.

‘Sustainability’

Dara Calleary (Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation) said that the levy-funding model provided for sustainability, flexibility, and independence for the regulators, and would ensure that Ireland “effectively and efficiently” implemented the EU rules.

The new bill amends the Broadcasting Act 2009, as amended by the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, to extend CnaM’s power to raise a levy in section 21 of that act.

It also amends the Digital Services Act 2024 to introduce a power for the CCPC to raise a levy for its new functions under the Digital Services Regulation.

The bill allows the two regulatory bodies to agree arrangements so that one authority can collect levy funding on behalf of the other.