Laws and regulations

Amazon has been hit with a fine from the European Union. They will need to pay 746 million euros for processing personal data that's in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The tech giant is already planning to appeal against the decision.

New VAT ecommerce rules have come into force on the 1st of July. Now, all imported goods – also the ones worth less than 22 euros - are taxed with VAT. For dropshipping ecommerce companies things could get more costly, but not for retailers using dropshipping platforms that work with stock based in Europe like BigBuy. Ecommerce News Europe spoke with CEO Salvador Esteve.

EU4Digital, an initiative to extend the European Digital Single Market to Eastern Europe, has launched an ecommerce pilot between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Germany. Its goal is to increase ecommerce volumes.

The Treasury, the UK's economic and finance ministry, is exploring options for an online sales tax. With this measure, it wants to shift the balance between spending online and in physical stores. British high streets are currently struggling due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For certain fast-moving consumer goods categories, half of retailers and wholesalers in the European Union experience supply constraints that are based on their location. These restrictions could limit traders to source goods in, and to resell goods to, other EU countries.

Ecommerce fraud is becoming a real problem in Germany. But why is German online retail particularly prone to this type of fraud? It has everything to do with the preferred payment method of German shoppers.

The European Commission has accused Amazon of abusing non-public data from third-party merchants to boost sales of its own brands in France and Germany. The Commission also opened a second investigation regarding the possible preferential treatment of marketplace sellers that use Amazon's fulfillment services.

France has announced plans to pause the development of warehouses used by ecommerce companies. This would mean a setback for online retail giants such as Amazon. The plan was announced by the newly-appointed Minister of Environment, Barbara Pompili.

Over half of online businesses in Europe believe that cross-border expansion within the European Union is becoming increasingly difficult. Research shows that the diversity of regulations across the EU is a barrier to international growth.

Amazon must restrict its orders in France in the coming weeks, due to measures associated with Covid-19. That's what a court decided earlier this week. Amazon can only accept orders of groceries, hygiene and health-related products.

The European Commission has adopted a new plan, which focuses on the design and production for a circular economy. The Commission wants to transform the way products in the EU are made. It wants them recyclable, repairable and designed to last longer.

Two thirds of products bought from the online marketplaces AliExpress, Wish, LightInTheBox, eBay and Amazon have failed safety tests. This is the result of extensive research done by six European consumers' associations.

The Cabinet of Germany has launched a draft law that is aimed to improve waste avoidance and to increase recycling. For online retailers this means the destruction of products will be more difficult, so they need to find a better way to deal with returns.

Facebook and eBay have agreed to do better in fighting fake and misleading reviews on their websites. They have made the pledge after the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom told them to address this problem.

New European Union rules for better consumer protection came into force yesterday. The modernized rules are designed to better be in line with digital developments. The European Commission urges member states to strictly implement the rules.