THE protection of consumers needs and interests in dealing, with the Internet will be given priority by the EU, according to the Minister for Commerce, Science and Technology, Mr Pat Rabbitte. He suggested that an international "cyberlaw", similar to the law of the sea, might be needed.
Mr Rabbitte was speaking yesterday at a forum on consumers and the information society in Dublin Castle. The forum was organised by the Irish presidency at the suggestion of Ms Emma Bonino, EU Commissioner for consumer Policy.
Ms Bonino told the forum that a certain amount of regulation might be needed to ensure that the parties to an Internet transaction are clearly identified and their responsibilities outlined before a transaction can take place.
She said the impact of technological developments extended far beyond technological features to include social, economic, legal, educational, institutional and political dimensions.
Their benefits included new products and services, wider choice and competitive prices. At the moment developments were producer rather than consumer-driven, and the Commission should ensure that benefits to consumers were maximised.
The Commission had a lot of ground to make up here, and had only just set up a unit to consider the consumers' needs. Given the speed of technological change "there is a risk we will have a directive that no longer relates to anything which exists except in the archives", she said.
The appropriate forum for discussing a regulatory framework might be an organisation like the World Trade Organisation, in view of the global dimension of information society developments.
"I am more and more convinced we will have to come up with global rules," she said. "But someone has to start somewhere. So far the questions have not even been raised by institutions."
Mr Rabbitte said questions of accessibility and affordability needed to be addressed.
There must be protection of confidentiality and privacy. Children in particular needed to be protected from intrusive advertising, and he quoted advertising executives who advocated capturing the "lucrative cybertot category".
"Safeguards against the exploitation of children existing in other forms of media - for example, television - must at a minimum apply in cyberspace," he said.
Because of its international nature, a coherent, "cyberlaw" might need to be developed at an international level, similar to the law of the sea, he said.