European Union – Commercial policy. In the context of defamation proceedings issued by the applicant against the respondents, the Court of Justice of the European Union answered five questions on the interpretation of European Parliament and Council Directive (EC) 2000/31. In particular, it held that 'information society services', within the meaning of art 2(a) of the Directive, covered the provision of online information services for which the service provider was remunerated, not by the recipient, but by income generated by advertisements posted on a website and that the Directive did not preclude the application of rules of civil liability for defamation.