On March 27, 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published an order of the Vice-President of the Court in Case C-639/23 P(R) regarding the request from Amazon Services Europe, part of Amazon group, to suspend its obligation to make an advertisement repository publicly available.

Background to the case

The CJEU outlined that on April 23, 2023, the European Commission released a decision designating Amazon Store as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and thus, requiring it to make its advertisement repository publicly available.

On request from Amazon Store, the aforementioned decision was suspended by the President of the General Court on September 27, 2023, and the Commission lodged an appeal against the order before the CJEU.

Findings of the CJEU

The Vice-President of the CJEU held that:

• it was not demonstrated that Amazon's existence and long-term development would be jeopardized; and
• the suspension of the decision could lead to a delay in the achievement of the objectives of the DSA, in particular regarding the threat to fundamental rights in online environments.

Following the balancing of interests, the Vice-President of the CJEU held that the interests defined by the DSA prevail over Amazon's material interests and rejected the request for suspension.

You can read the press release here and the full order here.