European Union: Adopted EU Commission Delegated Regulation laying down rules on the performance of audits for very large online platforms and very large online search engines

On 20 October 2023, the European Commission adopted the Delegated Regulation laying down rules on the performance of audits for very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs), as required under Article 37 of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Delegated Regulation provides guidance for auditing obligations for VLOPs and VLOSEs, including risk assessment and risk mitigation obligations. In particular, it outlines the principles for the selection of auditors, procedures and auditing methodologies. In addition, it specifies the level of detail of the assessment to be included in the audit report. To this end, the Regulation provides templates to produce independent audits and implementation reports.