Laws and regulations

Online food delivery marketplace Takeaway.com has announced its intention to proceed with an initial public offering and listing on Euronext Amsterdam. The IPO is expected to take place in the coming weeks and will probably consist of newly issued shares and existing shares held by the current shareholders.

The Brits have voted for Brexit, which means the United Kingdom will withdraw from the European Union. The whole process of withdrawal will probably take two years, but it's certain Brexit will affect the European ecommerce industry. Here's how.

The European Commission has proposed new ecommerce rules which should help European consumers and companies benefit from the Digital Single Market. The plan consists of three measures: tackling geoblocking, making cross-border parcel delivery more affordable and efficient and promoting customer trust.

Geo-blocking, which prevents consumers to purchase consumer goods and accessing digital content online from a certain country, is widespread in the European Union. A survey has shown that 38 percent of retailers selling goods and 68 percent of retailers selling digital content said they geo-block consumers located in other EU member states.

The Online Dispute Resolution platform, aimed to help online shoppers settling disputes with merchants across Europe, still doesn't offer exactly what it meant to do. The consumer tool was launched officially in February, but still five countries - including big ecommerce markets Germany and France - haven't connected yet.

The American retail federation welcomes the new, tentative privacy agreement on transfers of personal data between the US and Europe and says officials should quickly implement this measure. “Failure to renew this agreement would create a new trade barrier that would bog down global commerce and drive up costs for businesses and consumers", NRF says.

Running an online marketplace from somewhere in Europe used to be very complex, with all the different tax rules. But since the beginning of last year each company that sells digital goods is forced to collect VAT based on the country of residence of each buyer. This didn't make it easier. A European startup explains why.

The European Commission today presents a proposal which equalizes the guarantee period for consumers who shop online in all member states. If this proposal is accepted, it will be a major change for consumers and retailers in Europe and could really boost cross-border ecommerce.

Next year, all retailers in the European Union need to prominently state that customers can exercise new dispute resolution rights, provide a link to the EU website explaining these rights, and state whether the store opts in or opts out of the EU scheme. Here's what you should know about this alternative dispute resolution.

Ecommerce Europe, a pan-European association for online retailers, does not totally agree with the European Commission with regards to the Single Market Strategy it presented today. It welcomes the policy proposals the Commission has made, but the ecommerce association recommends not to create parallel legal frameworks. Ecommerce Europe wants the same rules for online and offline sales.

Ukraine is finally opening up to the online retail business. The parliament and the Central Bank have recently adopted measures to facilitate online transactions. As a direct result Ukrainians can now use the popular payment service PayPal.

The European Union tries hard to achieve the Digital Single Market. But despite all the efforts, there's still a long way to go before there's a borderless ecommerce industry in Europe. The national board of trade of Sweden has published a report where it maps out the legal barriers affecting ecommerce in the EU.

The European Commission has released its Digital Single Market Strategy to bring down barriers and unlock online opportunities across the continent. One way to achieve this, is by having more efficient and affordable parcel delivery. In order to improve the situation, the Commission wants feedback from consumers, companies and associations. It launched an online public consultation which will close on 29th July.

In a battle against falsified medicines, the European Union has introduced a common logo for legally operating online pharmacies and retailers. This already happened one year ago, but starting 1 July, implementation of the logo on an online pharmacy's website is mandatory.

The European Commission has launched a tool that should help online retailers, especially small and medium enterprises, with selling online and going cross-border. The tool provides guidance on what the legal rules are and what steps need to be taken to be compliant with certain laws and regulations.