Document(s): 

aim_memo2015_web.pdf

External link: 

http://www.aim.be/uploads/news_documents/AIM_Memo2015_Web.pdf

Author(s): 

AIM-European Brands Association

Year of publication: 

2015

The European Parliament considers that “a deeper and more complete single market in the digital field could raise the long-run level of EU 28 GDP by at least 4.0 per cent - or around 520 billion euro at current prices” .

The European Commission has put the completion of the Digital Single Market (DSM) at the centre of its strategy to restore growth and jobs in Europe. The college of Commissioners agreed on three main areas of action:
1) Better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services
2) Shaping the environment for digital networks and services to flourish
3) Creating a European Digital Economy and Society with long-term growth potential

This Memorandum sets out how consumer brands can help reach some of these objectives.
Brands are in a unique position to use the latest technologies and bring alive online the quality associated with branded consumer goods. They enable the essential trust that is required for the digital economy to thrive, simply because consumers feel more confident trading online when they recognize what they buy.

Through offering innovative products, services and communication in the digital environment, brands are already a major digital stakeholder and content provider . This role played by the branded goods industry for innovation is essential not only for individual consumers but also for the broader economy: research shows that one euro invested in R&D in the brands industry creates twice as much added value as in the non-branded sector.

The e-commerce value chain is complex. In addition to brand manufacturers, other actors such as online service providers, resellers/retailers, payment providers, distributors and social media play important roles. Moreover, the rules governing the digital market place are not yet mature and need to be improved.
In this framework, the emergence of barriers can only be avoided if all members of the digital supply chain act responsibly and fairly; i.e. they take all reasonable and adequate measures to respect the wellbeing of others as they do offline.

The scale of the challenge facing the digital supply chain today becomes clear when one considers the widespread marketing of fake products and other misuse of trade marks taking place online. These practices undermine innovation, investment and job creation in Europe. This is in addition to many regulatory barriers to e-commerce identified by the European Commission in its 2012 Communication .

In this Memorandum, AIM, the European Brands Association, calls on all actors, private and public, to assume their roles and responsibilities in creating a trustworthy and sustainable digital environment for the long term benefit of both consumers and businesses. We have adopted our own principles for consumer brands when doing business digitally (p. 6-7). This is our contribution to good practices for the digital market place. The principles cover topics such as business responsibility, safety, privacy and consumer access to redress as well as opportunities to use the digital world as a trustworthy marketplace.

These principles are in line with or complementary to the new set of ‘Consumer Engagement Principles’ agreed by the Consumer Goods Forum in February 2015 . The principles of the CGF also aim to help build trust with consumers and shape the way manufacturers and retailers use consumer information that is collected digitally.

Finally, we make policy recommendations (p. 8-15) for some of the main areas of actions identified by the European Commission:

• Better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services
o Our recommendations:
- Adopt the measures identified in the Commission’s e-commerce Communication in 2012
-Provide reliable consumer information online, by improving and managing product data online
-Pursue the development of a single source of concise and accurate product data, which consumers can trust, based on the GS1 Source standard
- Ensure that the information provided by comparison tools online is clear, transparent and impartial.

• Shaping the environment for digital networks and services to flourish
o Our recommendations:
- Apply equivalent rules and regulatory principles online &offline taking into account the specificities of the online environment
- Provide guidance for a uniform approach of the principle of “duty of care” for intermediaries
- Enhance consumer protection against unfair commercial practices online, at EU level,
- Clarify the scope of the “safe harbour” provided to online service providers, including the definition of “active” and “passive” role in the commercial transactions of third parties
- Clarify the scope of injunctions to include prevention of subsequent infringements
- Introduce EU wide harmonisation of compulsory notice-and-action procedures
- Recognize the need for brand owners to use targeted advertising online, while obtaining the adequate consent of Internet users and consumers.
- Clarify and adapt the regulatory framework on e-privacy and data protection