DELFI AS v. ESTONIA JUDGMENT
15
in the course of the transmission as they do not alter the integrity of the information
contained in the transmission.
(44) A service provider who deliberately collaborates with one of the recipients of
his service in order to undertake illegal acts goes beyond the activities of “mere
conduit” or “caching” and as a result cannot benefit from the liability exemptions
established for these activities.
(45) The limitations of the liability of intermediary service providers established in
this Directive do not affect the possibility of injunctions of different kinds; such
injunctions can in particular consist of orders by courts or administrative authorities
requiring the termination or prevention of any infringement, including the removal of
illegal information or the disabling of access to it.
(46) In order to benefit from a limitation of liability, the provider of an information
society service, consisting of the storage of information, upon obtaining actual
knowledge or awareness of illegal activities has to act expeditiously to remove or to
disable access to the information concerned; the removal or disabling of access has to
be undertaken in the observance of the principle of freedom of expression and of
procedures established for this purpose at national level; this Directive does not affect
Member States’ possibility of establishing specific requirements which must be
fulfilled expeditiously prior to the removal or disabling of information.
(47) Member States are prevented from imposing a monitoring obligation on
service providers only with respect to obligations of a general nature; this does not
concern monitoring obligations in a specific case and, in particular, does not affect
orders by national authorities in accordance with national legislation.
(48) This Directive does not affect the possibility for Member States of requiring
service providers, who host information provided by recipients of their service, to
apply duties of care, which can reasonably be expected from them and which are
specified by national law, in order to detect and prevent certain types of illegal
activities. ...”
Article 1 – Objective and scope
“1. This Directive seeks to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal
market by ensuring the free movement of information society services between the
Member States ...”
Article 2 – Definitions
“For the purpose of this Directive, the following terms shall bear the following
meanings:
(a) “information society services”: services within the meaning of Article 1(2) of
Directive 98/34/EC as amended by Directive 98/48/EC;
(b) “service provider”: any natural or legal person providing an information society
service;