Recognising that e-commerce is hampered by a
mass of conflicting national laws, the Commission has proposed
changes to Directives which it hopes will, when transferred into
national laws, bring the law into line with technological
developments.
"There is an urgent need for action, the world
is moving so fast and Europe risks lagging behind", said Meglena
Kuneva, the new EU Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, in her first
press conference in Brussels. "We need a root and branch review of
consumer rules. At the moment, consumers are not getting a fair
deal online, and complex rules are holding back the next generation
of bright business ideas. We must find new solutions to new
challenges."
The Commission believes that online businesses
would benefit significantly if doubts about the legal implications
of cross-border trading were removed. "Consumer confidence is a key
factor determining how and when consumers spend their money in
different sectors of the economy," said a Commission statement.
"All the evidence is that consumers are not yet comfortable enough
in the digital and online world to seize its full potential. Only a
tiny fraction – 6% of EU consumers – are currently shopping online
cross border."
The Commission will review all consumer
contract law, which will involve a review of eight Directives. They
are: the Unfair Contract Terms Directive and the Directive on Sale
of Consumer Goods and Guarantees; the Distance Selling Directive;
the Doorstep Selling Directive; the Package Travel Directive; the
Timeshare Directive; the Directive on Injunctions; and the Price
Indication Directive.
The Commission has found that the most common
problem consumers have is with delivery of items involved in
cross-border commerce. Non-delivery, late or partial delivery
accounted for 46% of complaints in a 2005 EU study of the online
marketplace. The second biggest complaint, at 25% of all
complaints, was that the goods had defects or were not what the
consumer thought they were buying.
A major issue which the Commission will
address will be the issue of returns. National laws currently
differ on who should pay for returned items and what the procedure
is, meaning that cross-border traders and consumers have to have a
knowledge of the laws of a number of countries in order to operate
in Europe.
Similarly, the Commission will attempt to
create one law on the issue of refunds and price reductions in case
of faults, and will try to clarify what cooling off period should
apply across the EU.
The Commission said that the results of its
recent consultation on the Distance Selling Directive would be
added to the results of the current consultation, because that
Directive is so central to the regulation of cross border
e-commerce.
"We must find new solutions to new
challenges," said Kuneva. "The question is can we afford to have 27
mini-online markets in Europe, denying consumers choice,
opportunity and competitive prices? We need to inject a new sense
of consumer confidence into the e-shopping world so it becomes a
trusted market space. The rules of the game have changed, it's time
for consumer policy to respond."
