EMOTA trustmark now also available in the Netherlands

Online retailers in the Netherlands are now able to apply for the international EMOTA Trustmark. The WebwinkelKeur Foundation has become the first and only Dutch representative of the EMOTA Trustmark, which at the moment is the first Europe-wide recognized trustmark for online retailers.

EMOTA, short for European Multi-channel and Online Trade Association, is a representative association for the mail-order and distance selling sector in Europe and wants to invest in the community’s future, by covering policy dossiers, researching the industry, running events and gaining trust from consumers.

The latter it tries to achieve by running a trustmark. It’s delivered by the national organization of the respective country and should fortify trust in cross-border e-commerce. To be considered for this EMOTA Trustmark, an extra legal examination needs to take place, but this guarantees the quality of the trustmark and provides the webshop owner with a full legal scan of his online store. The retailer also receives an extensive report with a list of examination and improvement points to fully conform to the current (European) regulations. This examination is repeated annually.

Now WebwinkelKeur Foundation is participating in EMOTA’s trust scheme for webshops. According to Marcel Landeweer, founder of the Dutch foundation, the ecommerce market is getting more and more Europe-oriented. “Boundaries blur by European regulations which  creates a need for a trustmark which is Europe-wide recognized. Such a trustmark can be only maintained by the cooperation between national organizations. By participating with EMOTA we can offer such a trustmark to Dutch webshop owners at an affordable price.”

At the moment, several European associations are connected to EMOTA. These are: Handelsverband (Austria), Safeshops.be (Belgium), ASML (Finland), EPAM (Greece), bvh (Germany), Consorzio Netcomm (Italy), Confianca Online (Portugal), SAEC.sk (Slovakia), Confianza Online (Spain), Trygg E-handel Trustmark (Sweden), Garantie VSV (Switzerland) and WebwinkelKeur Foundation (The Netherlands).

EMOTA may be the first to launch a Europe-wide trustmark, but there’s another organization that’s ready to launch one. Ecommerce Europe, once founded by Thuiswinkel.org who left EMOTA four years ago, has publicized its ambition to launch a European Trustmark in 2015.