Der öffentliche Vollzug des Digital Services Act

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is a cornerstone of the European Union's emerging digital regulatory framework. Simon Oles examines the public supervision and enforcement of this extensive body of rules, with particular emphasis on the concept of the administrative network ( Verwaltungsverbund ). He analyzes two dimensions of this network: the traditional European dimension and a cross-sectoral dimension arising from the DSA's horizontal regulatory approach.
The study begins with a detailed analysis of the factual and legal framework governing DSA enforcement. It then provides a comprehensive examination of the statutory foundations of enforcement under both the DSA and Germany's Digital Services Act ( Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz , DDG) through the lens of the administrative network model. These analyses form the basis for an assessment of the enforcement regime under EU primary law and constitutional law.
The relevant benchmarks include the European and German allocation of competences, the requirements of independence and state neutrality derived from data protection and media-related fundamental rights, the democratic principles enshrined in the EU Treaties and the German Basic Law, as well as the principle of coherence under EU primary law. Overall, the enforcement framework is found to be largely consistent with these constitutional and primary-law requirements.
One point of criticism, however, concerns the responsibility assigned to the politically accountable European Commission for enforcing the DSA against very large online platforms and search engines, despite their substantial influence on public opinion formation. The democratic legitimacy of the DSA's transnational enforcement architecture also warrants continued scrutiny. Similar to the cross-border enforcement regime under the GDPR, it suffers from weaknesses in mutual oversight mechanisms within the European administrative network.
Building on the preceding analyses, the author discusses a range of options for improving the statutory framework from a governance-theory perspective. Potential reforms, varying in scope and intensity, emerge with regard to the allocation of competences, the organization of enforcement authorities, and the design of cooperative and supervisory structures.