As ecommerce become an increasingly mature business, more and more laws and regulations come in place. This is also because Europe desperately wants to have one, unified ecommerce market. The Directive on Consumer Right is one of these examples. As of 13 June 2014 it replaced certain directives and it’s focused more on protecting the online consumer than the European Union did before.
The French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire wants a 3 percent tax on the French revenue of large internet companies, such as Amazon, Airbnb, Booking.com and Criteo. It looks like an EU-wide digital tax plan will be ditched next week. Continue reading
The European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission want rules to make it easier for businesses and traders to use online marketplaces and platforms. They have now agreed to set up seven new rules to improve the fairness of online platforms’ trading practices. Continue reading
Customers in Germany are insufficiently informed about the price of a product when they buy something using an Amazon Dash button. And this is in violation of the law, the Higher Regional Court of Munich revealed. Continue reading
The European Commission has given fashion retailer Guess a fine worth almost 40 million euros (39,821,000 to be precise). The US company got the fine for restricting retailers from online advertising and selling cross-border to consumers in other EU countries. This is called geo-blocking and in breach of European competition rules. Continue reading
In Europe, Google was forced to open up its shopping service to outside competitors. But now it seems that digital marketing agencies are profiting from the changed auction model instead of the traditional comparison shopping sites: 23 percent of all ads seem to be from marketing agencies. Continue reading
The European Union has called an end to geoblocking for online shoppers. This means that ecommerce websites in the EU can no longer block visitors from other EU countries. The new law has come into force this week. Continue reading
The Bundeskartellamt, whose task it is to protect competition in Germany, will examine how Amazon operates in Germany. The main concern is that Amazon is an online retailer itself, but it also has opened its German marketplace for external vendors. Is Amazon abusing its market position? Continue reading
There are easily over one million fraudulent online stores in Germany. And more than 4.4 German consumers have become victims of this online fraud. Criminals manage to steal consumers’ money mostly by setting up online popup stores. Continue reading
In Switzerland, many online consumers are often subject to unexpected additional fees. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs now wants to oblige foreign online retailers that are active in Switzerland to list all fees customers need to pay when they order online. Continue reading
Online retailers aren’t allowed to state a product is available soon’ on a product page. It’s too vague. That’s what the Oberlandesgericht in Munich decided after it reviewed a case against MediaMarkt, which used this phrase to promote the Samsung Galaxy S6. Continue reading
The Senate in France wants to introduce a tax on ecommerce. More specific, on deliveries from ecommerce companies to online consumers. The upper house of the French parliament wants to do this to protect city centers and smaller businesses across the country. Continue reading
The European Union has seen a steady increase in the number of rival products showing up in Google Shopping’s search ads. But this doesn’t mean the internet giant has done enough to avoid more fines on top of the 2.4 billion euro penalty Google got last year. Continue reading
Danish Consumer Council THINK Chemicals says shopping cosmetic products in the online shop Wish.com is problematic. The main problem is that customers often don’t know what’s in the products they buy through this popular online store. Continue reading
Members of the European Parliament have adopted a proposal to make the cross-border parcel delivery market in Europe more transparent and competitive. The European Union will implement new rules, which should lead to lower delivery costs for online consumers. Continue reading
Today, the European Parliament has approved rules that put an end to geoblocking on ecommerce websites in Europe. As a result, online shoppers in Europe will have wider cross-border access to products, hotel bookings, car rentals or concert tickets. Consumers may no longer be blocked or re-routed to a local website. But geoblocking in Europe still won’t be fully implemented, critics emphasize. Continue reading