3.7 CEG therefore supports the Commission's proposed Regulation on the Brussels Convention. It would not bring the transaction itself under the laws of the consumer's country. Information on the procedures and redress mechanisms available in other Member States should be available on a Europe-wide online database. This would be a particularly valuable means of redress in this context, given that most e-commerce transactions are paid for by credit card. 4.4 CEG has strongly urged the Commission to examine the possibility of making all EU credit card providers subject to the same sort of liability in order to facilitate redress.
Electronic commerce increases consumer susceptibility to unsolicited advertising and marketing.
5.2 Firms in the US traditionally view privacy as a commodity that can be traded. The 1995 EU Data Protection Directive reflects this approach. Not surprisingly, the Directive has sparked a row with the US which regards the Directive as protectionist. It has led to recent European Commission and US negotiations on how US self-regulatory schemes can be made more acceptable under the EU Directive. Essentially seen as a compromise to industry's demands, this self-regulatory approach has been widely criticised by US consumer and privacy groups.