The two clocks problem: trader traceability, retention, and consumer redress under the Digital Services Act

Abstract

Article 30 of the Digital Services Act establishes a trader traceability regime for online marketplaces that is also a timing regime. The 6-month deletion rule in Article 30(5) is triggered by the end of the trader–platform relationship, not by consumer-facing horizons such as detection lag, limitation periods, or the 2-year conformity window under EU sales law. Read together with Article 32’s 6-month notification lookback, the result is a structurally predictable gap: late-detected illegality is least likely to reach the consumers who need notice and most likely to coincide with the disappearance of the traceability file. That the data exists elsewhere, under tax, anti-money laundering, or product safety regimes, does not solve the redress problem; those datasets are purpose-limited and configured for authority access rather than routine consumer use. Three targeted adjustments are sketched: a transaction-anchored retention floor, a procedurally defined preservation hold, and a mediated contact relay for post-exit disputes.