§5.1 General approach

87. In the impact assessment made by the Commission for the purposes of its proposal for the Regulation, a lack of meaningful accountability and predictability for business user and corporate website users with regard to the ranking mechanisms used by providers was identified. In the case of paid ranking, it was recognised that businesses, and small businesses in particular, could benefit by understanding how these opportunities work. It could enable them to either choose not to participate where the resulting ranking is unlikely to be satisfactory, thus saving them the cost of participation, or choose to participate, and gain increased exposure. (16) 88. In this respect, the term ‘remuneration’ is to be understood in a broad sense. In recital 25, it is described as ‘payments made with the main or sole aim to improve ranking, as well as indirect remuneration in the form of the acceptance by a business user of additional obligations of any kind which may have this as its practical effect, such as the use of services that are ancillary or of any premium features’. In addition, recital 25 gives an example of what the explanation of the relative effects of remuneration could cover, namely, ‘the amplitude of the impact of remuneration on ranking’. 89. A best practice when providing the information required under Article 5(3) could involve a combined use of a written explanation with technological tools such as, for example, a dynamic simulator of the anticipated effects of remuneration on ranking.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07