European Commission ecommerce action plan
07 February 2012
The European Commission has published its
action plan for doubling the volume of ecommerce by 2015.
The plan, part of the Commission's Digital Agenda, sets out a range
of initiatives (some of which are already underway) aimed at
improving:
- The supply of cross-border online services
- The availability of information for internet users and online
traders
- Payment and delivery systems
- The resolution of cross-border disputes
- Efficient use of high-speed communication networks and hi-tech
solutions.
New initiatives for 2012 and
beyond:
Cross-border services: The
Commission intends to issue guidance on provisions in the
Services Directive (Recital 95 and Article 20) that prohibit
service providers from discriminating on the basis of a customer's
nationality or residence. The prohibition applies to the
service provider's publicly available general conditions, such as
advertisements, promotional material or online terms and
conditions. If a service provider wants to apply different
conditions, these must be objectively justifiable, for example, to
reflect different market conditions, or the additional costs or
risks of serving customers in different Member States. The
Commission receives numerous complaints and queries from customers
unable to buy services across national borders within the EU, but
notes that there has been little enforcement action within Member
States in this area. The forthcoming guidance is intended to
help Member States' national authorities apply the
anti-discrimination rules.
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E-signatures: The Commission is
concerned that lack of consumer and business confidence digital
signatures is impeding their take up and that this in turn inhibits
cross-border online commerce. Electronic signatures would
allow simple and secure identification that a sender of a document
is authentically who they say they are, and general adoption may
lead to significantly simpler transactions online. In 2011
the Commission carried out a
public consultation to see how consumer and business confidence
in e-signatures might be increased and to inform the Commission's
planned revision of the Electronic Signatures Directive. The
responses to the consultation indicate that the limited
cross-border interoperability of e-signatures is a real
concern. The Commission says that it will propose legislation
on the mutual recognition of e-identification and e-signatures in
2012.
Cloud computing: Following its
2011 public consultation on cloud services, in 2012 the Commission
will adopt an EU wide strategy on cloud computing. The
strategy will cover the legal framework - data protection and
privacy proposals already form part of the draft Data Protection
Regulation released on 25 January - as well as technical and
commercial issues such as security and availability of cloud
services. The Commission also plans to play a stronger role
in the technical standardisation of APIs and data formats, as well
as in the development of template contracts and service level
agreements. As part of the new strategy, the Commission plans
to work with the public sector to develop common approaches to
cloud computing. To this end, the Commission announced on
26th January 2011 that it is inviting public authorities and
industry to form a European Cloud Partnership focusing in
particular on standards, security and "ensuring competition,
not lock-in". The Commission will fund the Partnership
with an initial investment of 10 million Euros. It remains to
be seen how well the EU can regulate this rapidly evolving market,
and while legal certainty around these key issues may well enhance
the take-up of cloud services, over regulation may only place
non-EU customers and providers in a more competitive
position.
VAT on ebooks: In a recent
Communication on the Future of VAT, the Commission confirmed
the principle that similar goods and services should be subject to
the same VAT rate. In light of this, the Commission announced
in the action plan that it will table proposals to address the
divergent VAT treatment of ebooks and books sold in other formats,
such as in print or on CD Rom. Under the European VAT
Directive:
- ebooks are subject to VAT at the standard
rate
- Member States have the option to apply a
reduced rate to hard copy print books and to books supplied on a
"physical means of support"
- Some Member States, including the UK apply a
zero rating to hard copy print books under a derogation available
under Article 110 VAT Directive.
Following the Commission's communication,
France and Luxembourg swiftly announced that they will apply
reduced rates to ebooks from 2012, rather than wait for the
Commission's proposals, due sometime before the end of 2013.
However, the UK has refused to follow suit.
Cross-border disputes: In
November 2011, the Commission proposed new legislation to help
consumers resolve disputes out-of-court; firstly, a new European
Directive on alternative dispute resolution, and secondly, a
Regulation on online out-of-court dispute resolution so that
consumers can use an EU-wide single online platform to resolve
disputes within 30 days. In 2012, the Commission will turn
its attention to B2B disputes and will issue proposals for online
settlement.
Other initiatives planned for 2012 include
proposals to create a
European framework for "notice-and-take down"
procedures for internet intermediaries, a commitment
to develop a strategy for an
integrated market for card, internet and mobile
payments and plans to adopt a Communication on
spectrum-sharing, including a strategy for the promotion of shared
access to the spectrum in the single market.
For more information please
contact Simon Briskman,
Partner and David Naylor, Partner
in the Technology and Outsourcing
Group at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP.