§8.1 Keeping the descriptions up to date

120. Whilst only Article 5(2) contains an express requirement for the description of the main ranking parameters to be kept up to date, a similar requirement is implicit in Article 5(1). The latter provision requires, after all, a description of the main parameters determining ranking – not of the main parameters that determined ranking. Moreover, in this situation the description is to be set out in the terms of service, which the provider will keep up to date. Otherwise, the objective of improving predictability could not be achieved and the description would not be based on actual data, contrary to what recital 27 explains. 121. Accordingly, providers are to keep the required descriptions up to date. To that aim, they may need to regularly consider whether they still meet this legal requirement, or whether the descriptions need to be updated. Providers are free to devise their own systems to determine whether, when and how they will do this, considering elements such as how frequently changes are made, the effects of any such changes and when experiments (e.g. A/B testing) and other techniques (e.g. machine learning) used on their services may trigger changes to the ‘main parameters’ determining ranking. 122. If the outcome of the individual assessment shows that an update is needed to the description of the main ranking parameters, then providers of online intermediation services must notify business users of those changes in advance in accordance with Article 3 (see 9.1 below). No such requirement exists for providers of online search engines, as they are to ensure the public availability of their descriptions (Article 5(2)).

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