Hi there,
I am posting here what I have found and understood of the DSA law.
Be advised that I am NOT a lawyer, so please understand that this is just what I understood by reading parts of the law and is not a legal advice.
Nonetheless I encourage you to discuss and criticize my findings.
Article 3, Definitions. Paragraph (f).
‘trader’ means any natural person, or any legal person irrespective of whether it is privately or publicly owned, who is acting, including through any person acting in his or her name or on his or her behalf, for purposes relating to his or her trade, business, craft or profession;
Article 30, Traceability of traders, Paragraph (1)
Providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders shall ensure that traders can only use those online platforms to promote messages on or to offer products or services to consumers located in the Union if, prior to the use of their services for those purposes, they have obtained the following information, where applicable to the trader:
(a) the name, address, telephone number and email address of the trader;
(b) a copy of the identification document of the trader or any other electronic identification as defined by Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (40);
(c) the payment account details of the trader;
(d) where the trader is registered in a trade register or similar public register, the trade register in which the trader is registered and its registration number or equivalent means of identification in that register;
(e) a self-certification by the trader committing to only offer products or services that comply with the applicable rules of Union law.
In the article 30 "Providers of online platforms" above, I think the law refers in our case to Apple Inc that provides the App Store platform to the traders, while traders refers the traders that allow consumers to conclude distance contracts.
The distance contracts are defined in L 304/73 as
(7) ‘distance contract’ means any contract concluded between the trader and the consumer under an organised distance sales or service-provision scheme without the simultaneous physical presence of the trader and the consumer, with the exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and including the time at which the contract is concluded;
The definition of distance contract is not very clear. But again I am not a lawyer. I do not understand if the word contract refers to subscriptions, in-app purchase, single-purchase, or if it just refers to contracts stipulated with the clients outside the App Store platform.
Anyway, the crucial part I found is that the article 30 is contained within Section 4 that starts with the following article: Article 29
Article 29. Exclusion for micro and small enterprises.
This Section shall not apply to providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders that qualify as micro or small enterprises as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC.
This Section shall not apply to providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders that previously qualified for the status of a micro or small enterprise as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC during the 12 months following their loss of that status pursuant to Article 4(2) thereof, except when they are very large online platforms in accordance with Article 33.
So in my understanding if you have a small business you should not provide the phone number address and other information requested in article 30, because article 30 is inside Section 4 which starts with article 29 that is exonerating micro os small enterprises from the requirements of the law.
Do you think my conclusion is accurate?
Please let's discuss about that.
