EU strengthens consumers' rights in e-commerce

From...

by Rick Perera

(IDG) -- The European Parliament approved Thursday a measure which, among other things, allows customers to sue operators of foreign e-commerce sites in the consumers' home country courts.

The vote overturned the stance of the parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, which would have restricted lawsuits to the member state where the company has its registered office. But consumer-rights advocates called that an undue burden.

"In my view, if we want to make European business really competitive, it's got to be more responsive to consumer complaints," said Diana Wallis, the U.K. Member of the European Parliament who introduced the amendment adopted Thursday.

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"Up until now within the European Community we've always had a high level of consumer protection," Wallis continued.

She added that in mail-order cases, for example, consumers could sue in their home country.

In a bow to industry, though, the Parliament limited the right to sue to cases involving "active" Internet sites, i.e., those that market directly to the customer's home country.

Representatives of industry had argued that broader rights to sue would discourage Europe-wide online trade.

"I think the fears have been vastly over exaggerated," Wallis said.

"The research that's available tends to indicate that the number of cases that are consumer-to-business across member state boundaries is tiny. We're talking about maybe a handful of cases, if that," Wallis said.

She added that the goal is to settle as many consumer complaints as possible outside of court, and that the European Commission is looking into options for on-line dispute resolution.

The measure, approved by a vote of 298 in favor, 11 opposed, and 204 abstentions, codifies and updates the 1968 Brussels Convention on the recognition and enforcement of judgments.

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The European Parliament

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