Commission invites input on DSA advertising repository guidelines

The European Commission published a call for evidence on 4 November 2026 on upcoming technical guidelines for advertising repositories under Article 39 of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The guidelines concern the ad libraries that very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) must maintain. According to the Commission, they will "support the Commission's supervision and enforcement" of those providers' compliance with Article 39.

The Commission said the responses will help shape guidelines that advise on1 "how to make advertising repositories easily searchable," "how to provide insights on how users are targeted and reached" and "how to make the content of advertisements accessible."

Article 39 requires VLOP and VLOSE providers to maintain publicly accessible repositories of the advertisements shown on their services. The Commission says these repositories give the content of each advertisement, who paid for it, the period it ran, how many users it reached and the main criteria used to decide who saw it.

Article 39(3) gives the Commission the possibility to issue guidelines on repository design after consulting the European Board for Digital Services, researchers and the public. The Commission ties advertising transparency to public health, consumer protection and the integrity of elections.

The call for evidence will be followed by a targeted public consultation in 2027 on a draft of the guidelines. Researchers, civil society, VLOP and VLOSE providers and representatives of the advertising industry will be invited to comment. The Commission plans to publish the guidelines in the second quarter of 2028.

The Commission's page does not give opening or closing dates for submissions. The call-for-evidence PDF it references could not be accessed, so anything it contains is not reflected here.

The work is separate from the political advertising repository under the Regulation on Political Advertising. The Commission said2 a pilot version of that repository is available for voluntary use from 12 October 2026.