The Commission adopted at the end of 1998 a draft Directive, which sets out to systematically eliminate the current uncertainty about all kind of aspects of electronic commerce. This important proposal aims to create free circulation of online services, in the spirit of the Internal Market. At first sight this looks like a hotchpotch of measures, from the establishment of online service providers and the relevant jurisdiction, online commercial communications, electronic contracts, up to and including liability of intermediaries and the co-operation between government services. The extraordinary architecture of the Directive ensures a coherent package. Because of this sophisticated approach, based on the tried and tested Internal Market approach, it seems that there is the persistent misunderstanding that the Directive would put the consumer at a disadvantage.
Close consideration shows that the contrary is true.
For example, the Directive clarifies which legislation has to be applied to the online service provider and which administration has to monitor. The Directive does not alter the applicability of any of the existing rules. In order to protect the online consumer it even adds information and transparency conditions. Therefore, the level of consumer protection is never less than that it was before, but instead is raised because of the collection of fine-tuned additional measures. What can be expected is further work on consumer protection, VAT for online services, interoperability and competitiveness of industry.