CENTR expresses concerns about the EU Financial Data Access (FiDA) proposal, noting its far-reaching consequences on European consumers and financial businesses

CENTR, the association of European national top-level domain name registries (ccTLDs), publishes a set of recommendations to amend the EU Financial Data Access Regulation proposal, alerting policymakers to the irreversible  impact of the proposed domain-level enforcement actions on European consumers and businesses.

CENTR’s members, ccTLDs, are responsible for operating and maintaining the technical Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure and managing a domain name registration database, commonly understood as the “phone book of the internet”, containing information on domain name holders.

The proposal for a Regulation on Financial Data Access (FiDA) seeks to encourage the diversification of the financial services on the market, while putting consumers control over their financial data at its core. CENTR is concerned that domain name level enforcement action, as suggested in FiDA, will prevent the proposal from achieving this aim, noting that it removes consumers’ access to their data and financial services, effectively putting them at a disadvantage.

Domain-level enforcement measures, such as deletion or suspension of domain names, has far-reaching consequences on consumers and businesses and should only be available after a careful balancing act by competent authorities, in case of serious risks for safety of consumers, and where no other more effective means are available.

In order to increase effectiveness and reduce the impact on consumers, CENTR suggests that domain-level action be deleted from the enforcement measures available for competent authorities under the FiDA proposal.

With the aim of supporting evidence-informed policymaking and taking into account the intentions behind the FiDA proposal, CENTR puts forward recommendations to:

• Recognise the foundational nature of domain names for establishing an online identity and business, and consider the implications on the financial sector and consumers when domain names are deleted;
• Remove domain-level action from the enforcement measures available for competent authorities under the FiDA proposal, in absence of justification how such enforcement action is beneficial for the purposes of increased access to financial data; and
• Align the FiDA proposal and its enforcement measures to the existing consumer protection mechanisms under EU consumer law.

“We ask the EU co-legislators to adequately assess the implications of proposed enforcement measures involving deletion of domain names of non-compliant financial services on the financial sector, as well as on consumers,” said Polina Malaja, Policy Director at CENTR. “The aim of FiDA is to diversify the financial services market, focusing on consumers’ control and interests. Domain-level action, as suggested in FiDA, has irreparable consequences on the continuity of the financial business, and removes consumer access to their financial data and services. CENTR members ask for full alignment of the FiDA proposal with the existing EU consumer protection legislation,” Malaja concluded.

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