EU Digital Services Act Notice-and-Action & Content Moderation Policy

NOTICE-AND-ACTION & CONTENT MODERATION POLICY

Provider: [________________________________]
Service: [________________________________]
Effective Date: [__/__/____]
Policy Owner: [________________________________]
Version: [____]

1. PURPOSE AND APPLICABILITY RECORD

1.1 Purpose

This Policy governs how the Provider receives and processes notices concerning specific items of allegedly illegal information, applies content restrictions, gives required reasons and redress information, addresses misuse, and produces Digital Services Act ("DSA") transparency data.

1.2 Territorial Scope

The DSA applies to intermediary services offered to recipients whose place of establishment is in the Union or who are located in the Union, irrespective of where the provider is established. Counsel shall document the facts supporting or defeating that territorial nexus.

1.3 Service Classification

DSA duties are cumulative. A service that is an online platform is also a hosting service and an intermediary service; a designated very large online platform ("VLOP") carries those layers plus Section 5 duties. An online search engine follows the provisions that expressly cover search engines.

Commission designation decision and application date, if any: [________________________________]

1.4 Enterprise-Size Exclusions

☐ Determine and document whether the Provider qualifies as a micro or small enterprise under Recommendation 2003/361/EC.
☐ For Article 15, record whether the Article 15(2) exclusion applies; it does not protect a designated VLOP.
☐ For an online platform, record whether Article 19 excludes Section 3 duties other than Article 24(3). The exclusion generally continues for 12 months after loss of micro/small status, but does not protect a designated VLOP.
☐ Reassess size status on: [__/__/____].

Applicability conclusion approved by counsel: [________________________________]

2. POINTS OF CONTACT AND LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE

2.1 Authority Point of Contact — Article 11

The Provider shall publish and keep current the information needed to identify and communicate electronically with its single point of contact for Member State authorities, the Commission, and the European Board for Digital Services.

2.2 Recipient Point of Contact — Article 12

The recipient contact method must permit direct and rapid electronic communication in a user-friendly manner and must offer a means that does not rely solely on automated tools.

2.3 EU Legal Representative — Article 13

Complete this section only if the Provider has no establishment in the Union but offers services in the Union.

3. ARTICLE 16 NOTICE MECHANISM — HOSTING SERVICES

3.1 Electronic Mechanism

Notice URL: [________________________________]

The mechanism shall be easy to access, user-friendly, and capable of receiving notices electronically about specific items of information.

3.2 Fields Facilitated by the Mechanism

The notice workflow shall facilitate submission of:

☐ A sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the notifier alleges that the information is illegal
☐ The exact URL or other clear electronic location, plus any additional location data needed for the service
☐ The notifier's name and email address, except for information considered to involve an offence referred to in Articles 3-7 of Directive 2011/93/EU
☐ A statement confirming the notifier's bona fide belief that the information and allegations are accurate and complete

A citation to a legal provision and supporting material may be requested as optional context, but Article 16(2) does not make either a separate mandatory notice element.

3.3 Receipt and Decision Notice

Where electronic contact information is supplied:

☐ Send confirmation of receipt without undue delay.
☐ Notify the notifier of the decision without undue delay and explain available redress.
☐ If automated means were used to process or decide the notice, disclose that use in the decision notification.

Provider's operational target for acknowledgment: [____] hours.
Provider's operational target for initial assessment: [____] hours/days.

3.4 Sufficiency and Knowledge Review

☐ Determine whether the notice is sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated.
☐ Determine whether it permits a diligent hosting provider to identify illegality without a detailed legal examination.
☐ Request clarification where useful, without treating an optional legal citation as mandatory.
☐ Preserve the original notice, supplements, timestamps, and assessment record under the approved retention schedule.

4. TRIAGE AND DECISION PROCESS

4.1 Triage Matrix

These are Provider-selected targets. Any separate mandatory deadline or workflow under Union or Member State law must be identified in a counsel-approved category playbook before use.

4.2 Decision Standard — Articles 14(4) and 16(6)

☐ Process Article 16 notices and decide them in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary, and objective manner.
☐ Apply terms-and-conditions restrictions diligently, objectively, and proportionately, with due regard to the rights and legitimate interests of all parties, including recipients' Charter rights.
☐ Identify whether the ground is alleged illegality, a contractual restriction, or both.
☐ Record the relevant territory, duration, facts, evidence, and reviewer or automated system.
☐ Select a proportionate action supported by the applicable ground.

4.3 Available Outcomes

☐ No action
☐ Removal or disabling access
☐ Territorial restriction
☐ Demotion or other visibility restriction
☐ Monetary restriction, suspension, or termination
☐ Partial or complete service suspension or termination
☐ Account suspension or termination
☐ Other terms-authorized measure: [________________________________]

5. ARTICLE 17 STATEMENT OF REASONS — HOSTING SERVICES

When a restriction covered by Article 17(1) is imposed because recipient-provided information is allegedly illegal or incompatible with the Provider's terms, give a clear and specific statement of reasons to the affected recipient if the Provider knows the relevant electronic contact details. Give it no later than the time the restriction is imposed.

Article 17 does not apply to Article 9 orders or where the information is deceptive high-volume commercial content.

5.1 Required Record

☐ Restriction imposed, including territorial scope and duration where relevant
☐ Facts and circumstances relied on
☐ Whether the decision followed an Article 16 notice or own-initiative investigation
☐ Notifier identity only where strictly necessary
☐ Applicable use of automated means, including automated detection or identification
☐ For allegedly illegal content: legal ground and an explanation of illegality on that ground
☐ For terms enforcement: contractual ground and an explanation of incompatibility
☐ Clear, user-friendly information about available internal complaint handling, certified out-of-court dispute settlement, and judicial redress, as applicable

5.2 Article 24(5) Database Submission — Online Platforms

If the service is an online platform and Article 19 does not exclude the duty:

☐ Submit Article 17(1) decisions and statements of reasons to the Commission's public machine-readable database without undue delay.
☐ Ensure the submission contains no personal data.
☐ Record database submission ID and timestamp: [________________________________].

6. INTERNAL COMPLAINT HANDLING — ARTICLE 20 ONLINE PLATFORMS

Complete this module only when Article 20 applies.

Complaint URL: [________________________________]

☐ Permit recipients, including notifiers, to complain electronically and free of charge for at least six months after a covered decision.
☐ Cover the Provider's decision on a notice and covered visibility, monetary, service, or account restrictions.
☐ Make the system easy to access and use and capable of receiving sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated complaints.
☐ Handle complaints in a timely, non-discriminatory, diligent, and non-arbitrary manner.
☐ Reverse the original decision without undue delay when the complaint supplies sufficient grounds under Article 20(4).
☐ Inform the complainant without undue delay of the reasoned decision and available out-of-court and other redress.
☐ Ensure decisions are supervised by appropriately qualified staff and are not based solely on automated means.

Internal decision target: [____] business days. This is a Provider target, subject to the statutory "without undue delay" duties above.

7. OUT-OF-COURT DISPUTE SETTLEMENT — ARTICLE 21 ONLINE PLATFORMS

☐ Make clear, user-friendly information about access to certified out-of-court dispute settlement readily available on the online interface.
☐ Permit a recipient addressed by a covered Article 20(1) decision to select a certified body.
☐ Engage in good faith, subject to Article 21's same-information/same-ground exception for a dispute already resolved.
☐ Do not describe the body's decision as binding on either party.
☐ Apply the fee and expense allocation required by Article 21(5).
☐ Preserve the recipient's ability to contest the decision in court under applicable law.

Commission list / selected body information: [________________________________]

8. TRUSTED FLAGGERS — ARTICLE 22 ONLINE PLATFORMS

☐ Confirm status and designated expertise against the Commission's current public database.
☐ Give qualifying notices priority and process and decide them without undue delay.
☐ Track precision, accuracy, and substantiation quality.
☐ If the Provider has information indicating a significant number of insufficiently precise, inaccurate, or inadequately substantiated notices, send the awarding Digital Services Coordinator the explanations and supporting documents required by Article 22(6).

9. MISUSE MEASURES — ARTICLE 23 ONLINE PLATFORMS

9.1 Covered Misuse

Article 23 addresses:

☐ Recipients who frequently provide manifestly illegal content
☐ Individuals or entities who frequently submit manifestly unfounded notices
☐ Complainants who frequently submit manifestly unfounded complaints

9.2 Case-by-Case Assessment

Before a reasonable-period suspension, issue a prior warning and assess the individual case in a timely, diligent, and objective manner. Record at least:

The terms and conditions shall clearly and in detail describe the misuse policy, give examples of assessment facts and circumstances, and explain suspension duration. Fixed numerical thresholds, if used as triage signals, do not replace Article 23's case-by-case assessment.

10. SPECIALIZED CONTENT PLAYBOOKS

The DSA does not itself supply a single substantive illegality rule or identical handling deadline for every content category. Counsel shall approve a separate current-law playbook before the Provider uses category-specific removal, preservation, reporting, counter-notice, or authority-referral rules.

Do not assume that a report to a non-EU organization, a fixed response time, or a universal counter-notice procedure is required without recording the law and territorial facts that make it applicable.

11. TERMS, AUTOMATION, AND HUMAN OVERSIGHT

11.1 Terms and Conditions — Article 14

☐ Describe restrictions on recipient-provided information.
☐ Describe relevant content-moderation policies, procedures, measures, and tools, including algorithmic decision-making and human review.
☐ Describe internal complaint rules where applicable.
☐ Use clear, plain, intelligible, user-friendly, unambiguous language in an easily accessible, machine-readable format.
☐ Inform recipients of significant changes.
☐ Where the service is primarily directed at or predominantly used by minors, explain relevant conditions and restrictions in a way minors can understand.

11.2 Automation Record

The DSA permits automated means in Article 16 processing and decision-making when the required disclosure is made. It does not impose a blanket human-review rule on every initial moderation decision. Configure safeguards based on the service, risk, and applicable duties.

Article 20 complaint decisions must be supervised by appropriately qualified staff and not based solely on automated means.

12. TRANSPARENCY REPORTING

12.1 Article 15 — Intermediary Services

Unless Article 15(2) excludes the Provider, publish at least annually an easily accessible, machine-readable, clear, and comprehensible report about content moderation during the period. Include the Article 15(1) fields that apply to the service, including:

☐ Authority orders and median receipt/effect times
☐ For hosting services, Article 16 notices, trusted-flagger notices, action grounds, automated processing, and median action time
☐ Own-initiative moderation, automated tools, moderator training/assistance, and restrictions by relevant categories
☐ Complaints, decisions, median decision time, and reversals
☐ Automated moderation purposes, accuracy/error indicators, and safeguards

12.2 Article 24 Additions — Online Platforms

When applicable, add:

☐ Article 21 dispute counts, outcomes, median completion time, and implementation share
☐ Article 23 suspension counts separated by manifestly illegal content, manifestly unfounded notices, and manifestly unfounded complaints

Separately, publish average monthly active Union recipients at least every six months under Article 24(2), and retain the calculation record. Article 24(3) remains applicable even where Article 19 otherwise excludes Section 3 duties.

12.3 Article 42 Additions — VLOP/VLOSE

For a designated service, apply the Article 42 six-month reporting cycle and all additional fields applicable to the service. For a VLOP, these include content-moderation human resources by applicable official language, staff qualifications and linguistic expertise, training and support, and accuracy indicators by official language. Include average monthly recipients for each Member State as required by Article 42(3).

Apply Article 42(4)-(5) separately to the risk assessment, mitigation, audit, and audit-implementation materials, including the transmission, public-release timing, and permitted confidential-information omissions.

12.4 Harmonized Period, Deadline, Template, and Retention

Under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2835:

☐ Use the Annex I templates and Annex II instructions.
☐ The transition period ended December 31, 2025; the first full harmonized annual cycle is January 1-December 31, 2026.
☐ Retain each transparency report, including all published versions, and keep it publicly available for at least five years after publication.

Report URL: [________________________________]
Reporting owner: [________________________________]

13. ARTICLE 18 CRIMINAL-OFFENCE NOTIFICATION — HOSTING SERVICES

When the Provider becomes aware of information giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person has taken place, is taking place, or is likely to take place:

☐ Promptly inform the law-enforcement or judicial authorities of the Member State(s) concerned.
☐ Provide all relevant information available.
☐ If the Member State concerned cannot be identified with reasonable certainty, inform law enforcement in the Member State of establishment or of the legal representative, or inform Europol, or both.
☐ Record why each notified Member State was concerned under Article 18(2).

Emergency escalation contact: [________________________________]

14. AUTHORITY ORDERS — ARTICLES 9 AND 10

Route purported orders immediately to counsel. Record:

☐ Issuing judicial or administrative authority
☐ Legal basis, authenticity, addressee, specified information or recipient, territorial scope, and stated redress
☐ Receipt date and time
☐ Effect given and date/time
☐ Notice to the issuing or specified authority, sent without undue delay, stating whether and when effect was given
☐ Recipient notice analysis under the order and applicable law

Do not substitute this intake record for counsel's review of whether the order satisfies Article 9(2) or 10(2) and applicable Union or national law.

15. VLOP/VLOSE SYSTEMIC-RISK MODULE

Complete only for a service designated under Article 33.

15.1 Risk Assessment — Article 34

☐ Complete by the applicable Article 33(6) date, at least annually thereafter, and before deploying functionality likely to have a critical impact on identified risks.
☐ Assess service-specific risks concerning illegal content; fundamental rights; civic discourse, elections, and public security; gender-based violence; public health; minors; and serious effects on physical and mental well-being.
☐ Consider recommender and other algorithmic systems, moderation, terms and enforcement, advertising systems, data practices, manipulation, and regional or linguistic factors.
☐ Preserve supporting documents for at least three years.

15.2 Mitigation — Article 35

Document reasonable, proportionate, effective measures tailored to each identified risk and their effects on fundamental rights.

15.3 Independent Audit — Article 37

☐ Arrange an independent audit at the Provider's expense at least annually.
☐ Confirm the audit organization's independence, absence of conflicts, expertise, objectivity, and professional ethics under Article 37(3).
☐ Track the audit opinion, recommendations, and Article 37(6) implementation report.

15.4 Data Access — Article 40

☐ Respond within the reasonable period in a reasoned DSC or Commission request for compliance-monitoring data.
☐ Respond to a reasoned data-access request issued by the DSC of establishment for a vetted researcher under Article 40(4).
☐ Use appropriate interfaces specified in the request.
☐ Apply Article 40's amendment-request procedure where access is unavailable or would create specified security or confidentiality vulnerabilities.
☐ Maintain a process for Article 40(12) access by qualifying researchers to publicly accessible online-interface data.

16. RECORDKEEPING, GOVERNANCE, AND REVIEW

16.1 Operational Records

The DSA provisions cited in this Policy do not prescribe one universal retention period for every notice, complaint, and moderation decision. Set a counsel-approved schedule that accounts for reporting, redress, regulator requests, privacy, evidence-preservation, and other applicable law.

16.2 Training and Staff Support

☐ Train relevant personnel on this Policy, escalation, service languages, fundamental-rights considerations, and approved specialized playbooks.
☐ Maintain assistance and support appropriate to personnel exposed to traumatic material.
☐ Record training and support measures needed for Article 15 and Article 42 reporting.

16.3 Review and Approval

ANNEX A — ARTICLE 16 NOTICE INTAKE

ANNEX B — DECISION AND STATEMENT-OF-REASONS RECORD

ANNEX C — COMPLAINT RECORD

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), official EUR-Lex text
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2835 on DSA transparency-report templates and reporting periods, official EUR-Lex text

This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult qualified legal counsel before use.