E-Commerce

Electronic commerce has the potential to bring significant benefits to consumers. It can provide greater choice, promote competition among suppliers, and allow businesses to develop new relationships with their customers to the advantage of both. It has also has the potential to play a large part in the development of the cross-border shopping dimension of the internal market.

However, electronic commerce also brings new challenges and risks for consumer protection, including those arising from the increased frequency of cross-border consumer transactions. While e-commerce is growing, obstacles to consumer confidence remain.

Evidence in the market place suggested that trustmarks faced difficulties both in achieving brand recognition by consumers and in becoming commercially viable and sustainable operations. The ECP.NL/CRID consortium was awarded a contract to analyse and define the common characteristics of trustmarks and webseals in the European Union. The Report is below:

Final Report
Annexe

The Commission has also sought to encourage the development of online codes and trustmarks.
See also: Consumer Confidence in E-Commerce: lessons learned from the e-confidence initiative (8 November 2004)
Annexe

Consumer policy related to e-commerce therefore is part of wider EU consumer policy to improve consumer confidence in the internal market. Recent action on the regulatory, enforcement, information and redress aspects of consumer confidence will also help the development of e-commerce in the EU.

First the regulatory framework needs to be right to foster consumer confidence and enable business, especially SME's, to tap into EU wide consumer demand easily. Consumers therefore generally have the same rights and protections as offline shopping.
See also: Consumer Protection in the EU: Ten Basic Principles

Second, regulation needs to be enforced. Dishonest traders harm the reputation of markets and harm other businesses, as well as reducing consumer confidence.

Third, consumers need information and advice to exploit cross-border opportunities.