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BEIJING, April 7 (TMTPOST) — Online platforms operating in the European Union (EU) might face an annual supervisory fee of up to 0.1% of their global net income, an official document from the EU shows.

The supervisory fee will bs used for covering costs arising from content supervision and enforcement.

The EU has named the new rule as the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA rules will be passed by EU member states and the European Parliament later this month. This is the first time for the European Commission to charge regulatory fee from online platforms.

“The overall amount of the annual supervisory fees shall be based on the estimated costs the Commission incurs in relation to its supervisory tasks under this Regulation,” Reuters reported, quoting the document. “The fee shall not exceed 0.1% of the global annual net income of the provider of very large online platforms (or very large search engine) in the preceding financial year.”

The document also says that the fee would be proportionate to the size of the service as reflected by the number of its recipients in the EU. The European Commission defines very large online platforms subject to the DSA as those with 45 million or more monthly active users.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told lawmakers and member states last month that the fee could raise between 20 million euros and 30 million euros annually, Reuters reported, quoting a source familiar with the matter.

Non-profit service providers of very large online platforms and very large online search engines will be exempted from the rule, the document said. It is said that companies like Wikipedia will benefit from the rule.

The new rules are likely to receive greenlights from EU member states and EU lawmakers later this month.

“We believe it is possible, we see progress,” EU lawmaker Christel Schaldemose, who is steering the DSA in the European Parliament, told Reuters.

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