On 23 September 2025, in Brussels, Belgium, the 15th meeting of the European Digital Services Board took place, attended by the Director of the Consumer Rights Protection Centre (CRPC), Zaiga Liepiņa.
The meeting addressed several key issues related to the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA), including online child protection, next year’s work priorities, and the improvement of supervisory mechanisms.
Zaiga Liepiņa shared insights from the CRPC’s online marketplace monitoring project. The project assessed the most popular foreign e-commerce platforms – Temu, Shein, and AliExpress – with evaluations focusing on three aspects: consumer rights compliance, product safety, and digital services supervision.
During the meeting, Latvia also highlighted specific challenges faced in its role as a DSA coordinator. It was stressed that individual consumer complaints under the DSA, despite CRPC’s efforts, are often difficult to resolve because platforms frequently refuse to cooperate, relying on the country-of-establishment principle. This significantly hinders the timely resolution of problems. Latvia therefore emphasized the need for more effective cooperation and clearer rules for platform supervision, as well as the importance of strengthening the powers of digital services supervisory authorities – in line with the strong mandate already established in EU consumer and market surveillance areas.
The meeting also discussed the Board’s supervision priorities for the coming year, highlighting financial fraud and online child protection as the main focus areas – issues relevant across all EU Member States, including Latvia.
In relation to financial fraud and online scams, the European Union is currently developing coordinated measures and the necessary tools to reduce fraud online. A unified communication and public awareness campaign is also planned. In Latvia alone, during the first eight months of 2025, there were 4,496 fraud cases recorded, with total losses amounting to €7,814,373. This demonstrates the urgent need for effective anti-fraud mechanisms.
Regarding online child protection, the European Digital Services Board decided to assign oversight of the implementation of the Online Child Protection Guidelines to an expert working group. The group will define concrete targets, strengthen cross-border cooperation, and coordinate the monitoring of pornographic platforms. Competent authorities, when detecting violations related to the DSA during investigations, will be required to impose sanctions. Penalties may include fines for platforms and, in certain cases, website blocking.
Overall, the meeting was productive and focused on strengthening cooperation between EU Member States and the European Commission.