International Journal of Communications Law & Policy

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	Issue 4 (Winter 1999-00)

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE WITHOUT FRONTIERS?

An overview over the EC Commission's Proposal of a E-Commerce Directive and its implecations on the future development of electronic trade within the German legal framework

By Gunnar Bender and Christian Sommer

Download the Paper in PDF Format: IJCLP Web-Doc 7-4-2000

Abstract

On 7 December the Council of Ministers reached a political agreement on a common position for the proposed Electronic Commerce Directive. At the beginning of September 1999, just 10 months after the publication of the "Proposal for directive by the European Parliament and the Council on certain legal aspects of electronic trade in the internal market" , the Commission decided on a modified outline for a directive on e-commerce. This was the European Commission's reaction to the suggestions for change announced by the European Parliament at the beginning of May 1999. The aim of the directive is to bring down barriers to information society services within the internal market as well as allowing citizens and companies to exploit the full potential of electronic trade. The proposed Directive would establish specific harmonised rules only in those areas strictly necessary to ensure that businesses and citizens could supply and receive Information Society services throughout the EU, irrespective of frontiers. With this directive, the Commission also aims to increase the competitiveness of the European economy on an international scale. This article provides an overview of the most important regulations as well as changes versus the first version of the proposal in view of the possible effects that these directive may have on the future development of electronic trade, especially in the context of the German legal framework.