7. Consumer Protection
Legal
provisions for consumer protection vary
significantly between EU Member States (for
example, in Germany it is not legal to offer a
life-time guarantee; on advertising targeted at
children the Finnish approach is very different
from the British approach). Existing and
prospective EU rules (enshrined in, for example,
the Distance Selling Directive, the E-commerce
Directive and the Data Protection Directive) aim
to protect the consumer, although some of these
have a corresponding downside for business. A
clear, common set of consumer protection
standards still does not exist in Europe.
On March
3, 2000, European Commission announced the
launching of a new approach entitled 'Making the
virtual virtuous - towards a new approach to
e-Consumers'. This is aimed at helping business
and consumers to overcome the confidence barrier
which hampers the development of electronic
commerce in the Single Market.
The
above discussed European Extra-Judicial Network
(EEJ-NET, see section on ADR)), and the adoption
of the Regulation replacing the Brussels
Convention (see section on Jurisdiction) are
part of this initiative. Furthermore the new
approach promotes the development of best
business practices to ensure a market
environment where most transactions are
trouble-free (e.g. the setting up of trustmarks
on the web). |
ISOC
IWA
ARTT
RTS
