Discussions on the raft of proposals that seek to provide assurances on the portability of digital content and facilitate online shopping are developing very slowly. As proof of this, the co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament decided to postpone the presentation of their report on online shopping, given the diverging of views on the subject.
The European Commission put forward several proposals on 9 December 2015 to facilitate online trade (see EUROPE 11448): a regulation on the portability of digital content and two directives – one on the provision of digital content (for example, music streaming on Youtube) and the other on online sales of tangible products (such as online clothes shopping).
On the question of portability, the Council reached a political agreement on 26 May (see EUROPE 11559), while the Parliament has begun to draft the first amendments of the previous week’s compromise. It is expected to present a second raft during the first week of November. According to the information we have received, the current absence of IP addresses as a means of verifying the temporary character of a presence in another member state is bringing tensions to a head. The vote, during which rapporteur Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France) intends to request a mandate for beginning negotiations with the Council, is due to take place on 29 November.
On the subject of online shopping, developments are less positive: the co-rapporteurs, Evelyne Gebhardt (S&D, Germany), from the IMCO committee, and Axel Voss (EPP, Germany), from the JURI Committee, have decided to postpone their presentation of the report by two months. This is due to the conflicting views on a certain number of areas such as data protection, legal solutions, limitation periods and rights regarding the termination of contracts. At the Council it would appear that a minority blockage has been formed around Germany. This small group of countries is demanding that the two directives mentioned (on digital content and on the online sale of goods) are merged into a single text. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)