Platform Rules (DSA and Online Safety)

1. Classification, with reasoning

What users can place on the Service. A Contractor: a business name, a logo, price-sheet text, question wording, notes on leads. A Homeowner: option-based answers, contact details, up to three photographs. Who sees it: a Homeowner's content goes to one Contractor only, in a private dashboard; a Contractor's name and logo appear on that Contractor's own estimator. Nothing a user supplies is shown to the public as third-party content; the estimator page is the Contractor's own advertising.

EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065).

• We are an intermediary service and specifically a hosting service (Art. 3(g)(iii)): we store information provided by, and at the request of, recipients of the service.
• We are not an online platform (Art. 3(i)): a platform is a hosting service that "disseminates information to the public". Homeowner content is never public. A Contractor's logo on their own estimator is information the Contractor publishes about itself, which is the same as a website builder hosting a business's site; it is not our dissemination of third-party content to the public in the sense the DSA means (Recital 14 excludes content shared within closed or private groups and information published by the trader itself). This is a conclusion for the lawyer to confirm; it decides whether Section 3 of Chapter III applies.
• We are not an online marketplace: Homeowners conclude no contract through the Service.
• We are a micro enterprise (fewer than 10 staff, turnover below EUR 2 million). Even if we were a platform, Art. 19 would exempt us from the Section 3 platform duties (complaint-handling system, trusted flaggers, advertising transparency, minor-protection design, and so on). It does not exempt us from the intermediary and hosting duties in Sections 1 and 2, which apply to everyone.
• We are not established in the EU but offer services there, so Art. 13 (legal representative) applies, with no size exemption.

Therefore our DSA duties are: Art. 11 (point of contact for authorities), Art. 12 (point of contact for recipients), Art. 13 (EU legal representative), Art. 14 (terms and conditions must describe restrictions and moderation), Art. 16 (notice-and-action mechanism), Art. 17 (statement of reasons), Art. 18 (notification of suspected offences threatening life or safety). Art. 15 transparency reports do not apply (micro and small enterprises are exempt, Art. 15(2)). Nothing in Section 3 applies.

UK Online Safety Act 2023.

• A user-to-user service is one where content generated by a user may be encountered by another user (s. 3(1)). A Homeowner who uses the estimator is a user; the Contractor who receives their answers and photographs is a user; so, read literally, one user's content is encountered by another. That is the definition met by private messaging services, and Ofcom treats one-to-one sharing as in scope.
• Exemptions considered: Schedule 1 exempts email, SMS/MMS, one-to-one live aural services, "limited functionality services" (only comments or reviews on the provider's own content), and "internal business services" (a closed tool used by a business and its staff). None fits cleanly: the Homeowner is a member of the public, and the content is a form submission with images, not a comment on our content.
• Links with the UK: the Act applies if the service has a significant number of UK users, or the UK is a target market, or it is capable of being used in the UK and there are reasonable grounds to believe a material risk of significant harm to UK users (s. 4). Today there is no UK targeting and no UK Contractor; the "capable of use plus material risk of significant harm" limb is not plausibly met by a price-estimate form.
• Our position: EdgeQuote is arguably a user-to-user service in form, is not currently within the Act's territorial scope, and would be a low-risk, small service if it were. The proportionate step now is to complete and keep the illegal-content and children's-access assessments in Section 6, so that if a UK Contractor signs up the record already exists. [LAWYER — this is the classification most in need of confirmation in this document.]

2. The EU legal representative (DSA Art. 13) — DECISION

A provider of intermediary services without an establishment in the EU that offers services in the EU must designate, in writing, a legal or natural person in one of the member states where it offers services as its legal representative, empower them to be addressed by authorities on all matters under the DSA, and notify the Digital Services Coordinator of that member state of the representative's details. The representative may be held liable for non-compliance (Art. 13(3)), which is why commercial providers charge for the role. There is no micro-enterprise exemption. Proposed default: appoint the same commercial firm that acts as the GDPR Art. 27 representative, in France, and notify the French Digital Services Coordinator (ARCOM). Publish the details in the Legal Notice (done, as a placeholder).

3. Points of contact (Arts. 11 and 12) — page text

Published in the Legal Notice and reproduced here:

Point of contact for authorities (DSA Art. 11): sebastien@beyondtheedgestudio.com. Communications may be in English or French. Member-state authorities, the Commission and the European Board for Digital Services may use this address for all matters under Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. Our legal representative in the Union is [PLACEHOLDER].

Point of contact for users (DSA Art. 12): sebastien@beyondtheedgestudio.com. You may write in English or French. This is a monitored mailbox answered by a person; it is not an automated system, and you may ask for a reply by email or, if you give a number, by telephone.

4. Notice-and-action (Art. 16) — the flow

How to notify. Anyone may report content they consider illegal by emailing the point of contact with "Illegal content" in the subject. We ask for, and the mechanism is designed to receive: (a) a sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the content is illegal; (b) the exact location (the Contractor's business name and the estimator address, since there are no public URLs for content); (c) the notifier's name and email, unless the content concerns child sexual abuse material, in which case anonymity is permitted; and (d) a statement of good faith. The same email address accepts DMCA notices (Copyright Policy §5) and French LCEN art. 6-I-5 notifications.

What happens. (1) Acknowledge receipt without undue delay. (2) A notice containing the elements above gives us actual knowledge for the purposes of the hosting exemption (Art. 6), so it is assessed at once. (3) Decide in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner (Art. 16(6)), using no automated means. (4) If the content is illegal or breaches our terms: remove or disable it, and send the affected user a statement of reasons (Section 5). (5) Tell the notifier the decision and that they may contest it by replying. (6) Record the notice, the decision and the dates in the content-moderation log. (7) Where the content suggests an offence involving a threat to life or safety, inform law enforcement (Art. 18) — for child sexual abuse material, follow the Copyright Policy §6 procedure (NCMEC plus the relevant national authority).

Target timings (proposed, not statutory): acknowledgment within 2 business days; decision within 7 days for ordinary notices, within 24 hours where the content is manifestly illegal or involves a risk to a person.

5. Statement of reasons (Art. 17) — template

Sent to the Contractor whose content, estimator or account is restricted, at the moment of the restriction, by email:

Subject: Decision about your EdgeQuote content — statement of reasons

On [date] we [removed / disabled access to / restricted the visibility of] the following: [description — e.g. "the logo file uploaded to your estimator on [date]" / "your note on lead [reference]"] or we [suspended / terminated] [your estimator "[name]" / your account].

Territorial scope: [worldwide / limited to: ___].

Facts and circumstances: [what was found, and how we became aware: a notice from a third party / our own review of a report].

Ground for the decision: [Illegal content: the content is considered illegal under [law and provision, e.g. "Article L.335-2 of the French Code de la propriété intellectuelle (counterfeiting)"], because [explanation] / Breach of our terms: the content is incompatible with [Acceptable Use Policy §__ / Copyright Policy §__ / Terms §__], specifically: [quote the provision], because [explanation]].

Use of automated means: none. This decision was taken by a person. [If a notice triggered it: "It followed a notice submitted by a third party."]

How to contest this decision: reply to this email within 6 months stating why you disagree; a person who was not involved in the original decision will review it and answer within 14 days. You may also bring the matter before the courts of your member state, and, where applicable, the arbitration procedure in our Terms §15 remains available. Nothing here affects your right to complain to your national Digital Services Coordinator.

Beyond the Edge Studio · sebastien@beyondtheedgestudio.com

The statement is not required where the content is deceptive high-volume commercial content (spam) or where a legal order prohibits it (Art. 17(2)); we still record the decision.

6. UK Online Safety Act — proportionate minimum, and the assessments

If the Service comes within scope (a UK Contractor signs up, or UK becomes a target market), the duties of a small, low-risk user-to-user service are: (a) an illegal content risk assessment (s. 9), kept and reviewed; (b) proportionate safety measures against illegal content (s. 10); (c) reporting and complaints routes (ss. 20–21); (d) terms of service that say how users are protected (s. 10(5)); (e) a children's access assessment (s. 35) and, only if children are likely to access the service, the children's duties. Ofcom's Illegal Content Codes of Practice and its "Online Safety Act: a guide for services" and small-service risk-assessment tool are the reference. Our proposed setup, recorded now:

Illegal content risk assessment (outline).

Children's access assessment. Children are not likely to access the Service: it has no appeal to children, no age-attractive features, is embedded on contractors' commercial sites, and requires adult contact details to submit; there is no evidence of child use. Recorded as such; no age assurance is required (s. 35(2)). Reviewed annually.

7. Terms additions (Art. 14)

The Acceptable Use Policy §§3A and 5 already describe, in plain language, what content is prohibited, that we do not pre-screen, what we may do (remove, restrict, suspend, terminate), that EU users receive a statement of reasons, how to report, and how to contest. The Terms §8 incorporates the AUP. One sentence is added to the Terms §8 in this run so that the description sits in the Terms themselves, as Art. 14(1) expects: "Our content-moderation rules, the actions we may take, and how to contest a decision are set out in the Acceptable Use Policy and the Platform Rules, which form part of these Terms."

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NOTES FOR YOUR LAWYER

1. "Hosting service, not online platform" is the load-bearing DSA conclusion. Confirm it, with attention to the Contractor's logo on the estimator (our reading: the trader's own information, not third-party dissemination).
2. Art. 13 representative is a real, unexempted obligation for a non-EU hosting service with EU users. Confirm, confirm the proposed pairing with the GDPR Art. 27 representative, and confirm notification to ARCOM as the French Digital Services Coordinator.
3. UK OSA scope (Section 1) is the most uncertain classification in the pack. Confirm whether a form-to-business flow makes EdgeQuote a user-to-user service, whether any Schedule 1 exemption fits, and whether the assessments in Section 6 are the right proportionate response if a UK Contractor signs up. Point to Ofcom's small-service guidance for the format.
4. Statement-of-reasons timing. The template promises internal review within 14 days; that is a proposed service level, not a statutory one. Confirm.
5. Art. 18 interaction with the NCMEC procedure: confirm that reporting to NCMEC plus the national authority satisfies Art. 18 for CSAM.
6. Transparency database. Statements of reasons are submitted to the Commission's database only by online platforms (Art. 24(5)); confirm no submission duty falls on a hosting service.

WHAT THIS DOES NOT COVER

• Platform duties under Section 3 of Chapter III of the DSA, which do not apply to a micro hosting service.
• The Contractor's own website, which may itself be an intermediary service in ways we do not assess.
• Any member state's additional rules on illegal content beyond France's LCEN, which is addressed in the Copyright Policy.
• The BTE studio website.