Europe to knock down ecommerce barriers

Ecommerce will be allowed to flourish in Europe from next year under European Commission plans to sweep aside political red tape.

The initiative means that internet merchants will not have to comply with multiple sets of trading regulations created by the different consumer protection laws in member states.

"Red tape all too often stops cross-border competition in services, restricts choice and increases costs for business and private customers, and so limits economic growth and job creation," says the Commission.

The Commission plans to ask member states to remove persistent barriers to pan-European ecommerce. It also plans to change the way its rules apply to trade in Europe, from a sector by sector approach to a service by service approach.

Frits Bolkestein, internal market commissioner, said the two-pronged strategy reflects "the fundamental shift in Europe from a manufacturing to a service-driven economy", and "marks a step change for internal market policy towards the free movement of services".

Stage one begins this year with a survey of several thousand EU enterprises to identify persistent barriers to the cross-border provision of services, such as outmoded rules of unfair competition. Stage two will kick off next year when the Commission will present a list of persistent barriers and a request to member states for their removal.

The framework is designed to improve current Commission figures revealing that over 47 per cent of firms providing business services to other EU countries realise only 10 per cent or less of their turnover outside their home member state.

UK law firm Dibb Lupton Alsop has spearheaded a campaign to make ecommerce easier within the EU. Lawyer Mike Pullen said the approach is "good news for ecommerce, and a pro-industry initiative, but the devil is in the exceptions. The danger is if it is watered down."

"Blanket harmonisation is a complete nonsense," he added. "If every service provider is regulated in an EU country, then it should be accepted that whatever level of regulation it has is an adequate level of protection. It is especially good news for SMEs. Only big multi-nationals can afford teams of lawyers to check they comply with other member state laws."

A spokesman for European consumer organisation BEUC said: "It should be the right of consumers to be protected along the lines of their own national regulations."

Customers and businesses trying to provide or use services across national frontiers can share their experiences by emailing MARKT-services@cec.eu.int