IAB Europe adds multilingual support to DSA transparency guidelines

IAB Europe published updated implementation guidance for Digital Services Act advertising transparency requirements on December 4, 2025. Version 1.2 of the DSA Transparency Implementation Guidelines introduces optional standardized text templates translated into 24 European Union languages, addressing industry requests for harmonized multilingual disclosure formats.

The documentation provides ready-to-use text for platforms displaying advertisement transparency information required under Article 26 of the DSA, according to IAB Europe's announcement. Translation availability spans German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Danish, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Ukrainian languages.

Industry feedback drove development of the standardized templates. "Through ongoing community feedback, it became evident that having harmonised and ready-to-use user-facing texts would greatly assist in ensuring consistency, clarity, and multilingual reach when rendering the ad-level DSA transparency information required under Article 26," according to the implementation guidelines document.

The templates complement technical specifications developed jointly by IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab for transmitting transparency data through programmatic advertising systems. IAB Europe published its initial DSA transparency approach in November 2023, establishing data formats for compliance with EU advertising disclosure mandates.

Article 26 requires online platforms to provide users with specific information about each advertisement displayed, including advertiser identity, financial sponsor identity when different from the advertiser, and targeting parameters determining ad delivery. Platforms designated as Very Large Online Platforms under DSA face enhanced transparency obligations alongside standard disclosure requirements.

The standardized text approach maintains implementer flexibility while pursuing consistency objectives. "The standard texts have been developed by the IAB Europe's DSA Taskforce as an optional resource that can be used by implementers of IAB Tech Lab's DSA Transparency Extension and Technical Specifications," the guidelines state. "This is to maintain implementers' flexibility to control the final user experience while pursuing the objective of high levels of consistency in users' online experience."

Accessibility features accompany the multilingual templates. IAB Europe developed "easy-to-read" versions of standard texts ensuring DSA transparency information presentation in accessible formats meeting diverse user comprehension needs.

The JSON file implementation employs server-side caching requirements similar to IAB Europe's Transparency and Consent Framework Global Vendor List protocols. Organizations accessing translation files must download and cache resources server-side rather than loading directly from source URLs. Cache control headers specify 90-day maximum age values, with strict monitoring to prevent excessive access attempts.

Implementation guidelines detail three rendering approaches platforms can employ: publisher rendering where online platforms display transparency information directly, ad creative rendering where buy-side partners incorporate disclosure elements within advertisement creative, and Dynamic Creative Optimization rendering where DCO ad servers append transparency data during final creative selection.

The update addresses compliance complexities facing platforms operating under multiple regulatory frameworks. The European Data Protection Board published guidance on September 11, 2025, establishing how digital marketers must navigate intersections between DSA obligations and General Data Protection Regulation requirements.

Enforcement actions demonstrate regulatory scrutiny of transparency compliance. The European Commission fined X €120 million on December 5, 2025, for inadequate advertising repository transparency alongside other DSA violations. TikTok and Meta faced preliminary breach findings on October 24, 2025, regarding researcher data access and transparency mechanisms.

The targeting parameter framework aligns with IAB Europe's Transparency and Consent Framework purposes. Parameters include profiling based on user behavior across contexts, basic advertising using contextual information without personalization, and precise geolocation within 500-meter accuracy. This alignment enables platforms to reference existing consent mechanisms for user control over targeting parameters.

Translation availability through dsa.consensu.org follows language code formatting, with files accessible at URLs like dsa.consensu.org/dsaText-it.json for Italian translations. The JSON structure contains fields for advertisement information titles, advertiser identification, parameter descriptions, and consent notification text.

Technical specifications maintained by IAB Tech Lab's Global Privacy Working Group establish OpenRTB protocol extensions carrying transparency data through programmatic advertising supply chains. The specifications enable demand-side platforms, supply-side platforms, and other intermediaries to transmit advertiser identity, payment information, and targeting parameter signals from campaign setup through final ad delivery.

DSA applicability for online platforms began February 16, 2024. Platforms serving more than 45 million average monthly active users in the European Union qualify as Very Large Online Platforms subject to additional transparency requirements including advertisement repository maintenance and external audit obligations under Article 39.

The updated guidelines maintain the four-component framework established in earlier versions: roles and responsibilities across advertising ecosystem participants, user parameter definitions and transport mechanisms, rendering implementation approaches, and frequently asked questions addressing common deployment scenarios.

Platform implementation requires coordination across technical and policy teams determining rendering preferences, supply chain partner requirements, and user interface presentation approaches. Intermediary organizations must support both platform rendering scenarios where transparency data flows to publishers for display and ad creative rendering scenarios where buy-side partners incorporate disclosure directly within advertisements.

IAB Europe's DSA Ads Transparency Taskforce launched in July 2022 following DSA adoption in October 2022. The task force includes technical and legal experts from companies across the digital advertising ecosystem developing standardized compliance approaches reducing implementation complexity while supporting regulatory objectives.

Future taskforce work includes consideration of standardized pathways for consent management platforms to render DSA transparency information and mechanisms enabling user choice about targeting parameters. Current guidance references potential TCF integration for parameter control without defining specific CMP rendering technologies.

Timeline

• October 2022: Digital Services Act adopted, establishing transparency requirements for online platforms
• July 2022: IAB Europe launches DSA Ads Transparency Taskforce evaluating industry standardization needs
• January 15, 2024: Version 1.0 of DSA Transparency Implementation Guidelines published
• February 16, 2024: DSA transparency obligations become applicable for all online platforms
• May 5, 2025: Version 1.1 published adding Dynamic Creative Optimization rendering guidance
• September 11, 2025: European Data Protection Board clarifies DSA-GDPR compliance requirements
• October 24, 2025: European Commission issues preliminary DSA breach findings against TikTok and Meta for transparency violations
• December 4, 2025: Version 1.2 released with multilingual standard text translations
• December 5, 2025: European Commission fines X €120 million including advertising repository transparency violations

Summary

Who: IAB Europe's DSA Ads Transparency Taskforce released updated implementation guidance affecting online platforms, Very Large Online Platforms, demand-side platforms, supply-side platforms, consent management platforms, and advertisers operating in the European Union digital advertising market.

What: Version 1.2 of the DSA Transparency Implementation Guidelines introduces standardized user-facing text templates translated into 24 EU languages plus easy-to-read accessibility versions, technical documentation for JSON file implementation, and expanded guidance covering Dynamic Creative Optimization rendering scenarios for Article 26 advertising transparency disclosures.

When: IAB Europe published the updated guidelines on December 4, 2025, building on version 1.0 from January 15, 2024, and version 1.1 from May 5, 2025, supporting ongoing compliance with DSA transparency requirements that became fully operational for all platforms on February 16, 2024.

Where: The guidelines apply across the European Union's 27 member states for online platforms serving EU users, with standardized translations covering major EU languages enabling consistent transparency disclosure implementation across diverse linguistic markets and accessibility needs.

Why: Standardized multilingual text templates address industry feedback requesting harmonized disclosure formats reducing implementation complexity while ensuring consistency and clarity across platforms, supporting regulatory compliance objectives under Article 26 DSA requiring real-time advertisement transparency information for every ad displayed to users.