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e-Commerce in the EU

e-Commerce in the EU. Directive 2000/31/EC Cindy van den Boogert European Commission Information Society and Media DG Workshop on e-Commerce Tirana, Albania 19 March 2009. Content. What is e-commerce? Need for regulation Directive 2000/31/EC. e-Commerce.

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e-Commerce in the EU

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  1. e-Commerce in the EU Directive 2000/31/EC Cindy van den Boogert European Commission Information Society and Media DG Workshop on e-Commerce Tirana, Albania 19 March 2009

  2. Content • What is e-commerce? • Need for regulation • Directive 2000/31/EC e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  3. e-Commerce • Any type of business or commercial transaction (buying and selling) involving transfer of information across the internet – using any of the applications, such as e-mail, instant messaging, web-services, etc • Allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance • Business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), ‘consumer’ to consumer e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  4. Benefits and impact • More people use internet… • Advertising • Additional selling to the ‘normal’ offline business; boundaries between ‘conventional’ and electronic commerce will become increasingly blurred • Faster transactions • Electronic market places • But need to have good business plan, secure computer system, etc etc.. And good regulation e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  5. Need to regulate • No harmonised approach: not good for internal market and for businesses (esp. since business is more and more cross border) • How about consumer protection? • How about contracts? • How about liability? • What about secure financial transactions, electronic signature, data protection,….? e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  6. e-Commerce Directive2000/31/EC • To create an internal market framework for electronic commerce • A need to providing legal certainty for business and consumers alike • Harmonised rules on e.g.: • transparency and information requirements for online service providers; • commercial communications; • electronic contracts and limitations of liability of intermediary service providers e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  7. e-Commerce Directive2000/31/EC • Directive enhances • The administrative cooperation between Member States • The role of self-regulation • Examples of services: • online selling of products and services; • online advertising; • professional services; • entertainment services; • intermediary services; • ……………… e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  8. e-Commerce Directive objectives • Development of e-commerce • To remove barriers to the cross-border provision of information society services (ISS) within the Internal Market: ISS are, in principle, subject to the law of the Member State in which the service provider is established • To provide legal security to providers of information society services • To create a flexible, technically neutral and balanced legal framework e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  9. e-Commerce Directive key provisions (1) • Internal Market: facilitates cross-border provision of information society services (Art. 3 – country of origin principle) • Rules on commercial communications • Article 6 –information to be provided • Article 7 – Unsolicited commercial communications • Article 8 – regulated professions e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  10. e-Commerce directivekey provisions (2) • Limitation of liability of internet intermediaries (section 4) • ‘Mere conduit’: Service provider not liable for transmission of information on condition it is not the provider of the info, does not select the receiver and does not select the information (Art. 12) • ‘Caching’: -on certain conditions- provider is not liable for storage of the cached information if storage if performed for the sole purpose of making efficient the onward transmission (Art. 13) e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  11. e-Commerce directivekey provisions (3) (limitation of liability continued) • Hosting (Art. 14): service provider is not liable for the information stored at the request of a recipient of the service (if no knowledge of illegal activity). When obtaining such knowledge: remove information or disable access • No general obligation on providers to monitor the information they transmit or store, or to to actively seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity (Art. 15) e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  12. e-Commerce Directivekey provisions (4) • Article 9 (treatment of contracts): • Legal system must allow contracts to be concluded by electronic means • equivalent legal status of electronic and paper contract (no obstacles for e-contract) • Important for business and e-business to be successful • Prior to directive: not being able to conclude e-contracts implied higher costs and higher legal uncertainty e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  13. Exclusions • From the scope of application – among others: • taxation issues • gambling activities • From the country of origin principle – among others: • intellectual and industrial property rights • contractual obligations concerning consumer contracts e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  14. Transposition in EU • Entry into force on 17 July 2000 • Transposition deadline: for EU-15 MS: 17 January 2002 for new EU members: date of accession • State of play of transpositions: all MS have transposed the Directive, although some of them with delays e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  15. First Reporte-Commerce Directive • adopted in November 2003 (COM(2003) 702 final) • first assessment of the transposition and application of the Directive (in old MS) Conclusion: no need to review the Directive yet given the lack of practical experience on how the new legal framework is functioning e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  16. Is the Directive working? • Establishment of an Expert Group on electronic commerce – first meeting on 17th November 2005 Sensitive areas: • Country of origin principle (administrative cooperation) • Liability of internet intermediaries e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  17. Albania • Stabilisation Association Agreement in force as of 1 April 2009 • Directive is part of ‘acquis communautaire’: need to align • E-commerce is part of a package of provisions/directives, like data protection, electronic signature, e-money, e-documents, etc • Important: treatment of contracts and liability provisions e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  18. Conclusion • Commerce / e-commerce convergence..? • Many benefits • Large impact on businesses Note: • Take care of the ‘big picture’: package of necessary regulations, proper enforcement, cooperation with EU countries • Special care: contracts, liability provisions, consumer protection e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

  19. Further information http://europa.eu.int/comm/ internal market/en/ecommerce/index.htm European Commission DG Internal Market and Services Unit E.2 Services II B-1049 Brussels E-mail: MARKT-E2@ec.europa.eu e-Commerce in the EU, Cindy van den Boogert Tirana 19 March 2009

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