On 10 August the European Commission announced that it has opened a consultation on the future of e-commerce and the implementation of the E-Commerce Directive.

This follows last month's publication of the Commission's first report in relation to a "market monitoring" exercise that it has been conducting in relation to EU retail markets since 2007.

Somewhat surprisingly, one of the key issues to emerge from the report was the slow growth of e-commerce.  Ten years after the adoption of the E-Commerce Directive, which was intended to promote cross-border on-line services in Europe, on-line transactions in the EU account for less than 2% of total retail trade.

The Commission recognises that e-commerce promotes cross-border trade and price competition within the European market, on-line and off-line.  However, it considers that limited engagement in on-line trade has so far prevented these benefits from being fully realised.  Through the consultation, the Commission hopes to study in detail the reasons for the limited takeoff of e-commerce and to review the implementation of the E-Commerce Directive.

Topics included in the consultation are:

  • the level of development of on-line services;
  • issues concerning administrative co-operation between member states;
  • contractual restrictions on cross-border on-line sales;
  • cross-border on-line commercial communications, in particular by regulated professions;
  • the development of on-line press services;
  • interpretation of provisions in the Directive relating to the liability of on-line retailers and service providers;
  • the development of on-line pharmacy services; and
  • the resolution of on-line disputes.

The responses that are received will be taken into account by the Commission with the intention of producing a Communication on e-commerce during the first half of 2011.  The closing date for responses is 15 October 2010.

To access the consultation questionnaire on-line click here.

A paper version is also available from the European Commission website

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

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The original publication date for this article was 16/08/2010.