A EUROPE-WIDE “trustmark” that would guarantee the quality of products sold on websites is among the proposals backed by MEPs to encourage e-commerce across the EU.
The European Commission would supervise the “trustmark” displayed on websites and it would be based on EU law, according to the recommendations in a European Parliament report to make internet sales safer.
The report was adopted by the parliament, after figures revealed that while one in three European consumers bought at least one item online, only 7 per cent of citizens have “dared to do so in another EU state”. The report, compiled by Spanish Christian Democrat MEP Pablo Arias Echeverria, says research of 11,000 cases found 60 per cent “of customer attempts to buy items across EU borders fail”.
Mr Arias Echeverria’s report makes 13 recommendations including the creation of a “European trustmark”, which would give guarantees to consumers about their purchases and would establish online rights.
He said MEPs wanted equality of access to the internet and “to strengthen confidence through the creation of a trustmark, to strengthen the supervision of the net and to carry out advertising campaigns so users know their rights and where to make claims if they have a problem. We also want to guarantee data protection and encourage private businesses to go online and to simplify rules to deal with payment of taxes.”
EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht told the parliament that they had a long way to go to “fill the gaps”. The commission would “reflect carefully on the report” and on ways to make the rules simpler and enforceable. The commission had this month begun an “in-depth study of e-commerce” and early next year would produce an evaluation, he added.
In a parliament debate on the matter, Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly criticised the sale for “exorbitant prices” of tickets online for big events. Highlighting last Sunday’s All-Ireland football final, he said the maximum price of a match ticket was €70, yet these tickets were available on the internet for anything from €350 to €500.
“You may say they couldn’t be sold unless there was a demand for them but it is unsporting, unfair and unhelpful and the downside of e-commerce,” he said.
Portuguese MEP Ilda Figueiredo challenged the commission’s target to extend broadband access to all citizens by 2013. She asked how this could be done when “30 per cent of families in the EU do not have access to the internet and 20 per cent live in poverty”.
British MEP Daniel Hannan criticised the report for containing nothing but “trite cliches”. It did “nothing to facilitate actual e-commerce,” he said.