Brussels, 04/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament approved, on second reading, the Council's "common position" on the directive on electronic trade, following its rapporteur Ana Palacio Vallelersundi (Partido Popular) practically unanimously (496 in favour, none against, 38 abstentions). This vote "renders positive the European Parliament's work of co-decision", President Nicole Fontaine commented at the end of the vote, Thursday morning. The directive has now been definitively adopted, following this vote in Parliament.
Plenary did, however, adopt two amendments to the EP's legislative resolution, tabled by Mrs. Palacio herself and by Mrs. Grossetete (adoption of amendments to a legislative resolution is a novelty) by which the Commission is urged to: - guarantee a prompt and strict implementation of the directive in Member States, notably regarding the responsibility of providers of intermediary services, so as to encourage the setting up of effective procedures of "notice and take down"; - decide on guidelines in view of drawing up codes of conduct guaranteeing in particular the participation, should the need arise, of consumer associations and Internet users.
In her report, Mrs. Palacio noted in particular that the Council's "common position" took on board a majority of the amendments Parliament adopted on first reading, except for the responsibility of intermediary providers, but Mrs. Palacio observed that "it appears that the balance proposed by the Commission is the subject of agreement between the two parties most concerned: those with rights and intermediary providers". Especially balanced solutions were found for a certain number of sensitive issues, like: a) consumer protection; b) application of the directive to financial services provided on the Internet; c) primacy of the directive over private international law; d) "opt out" registers for consumers not wanting to receive unsolicited commercial communications; e) clarifications over cyber-crime and the protection of minors; f) pharmaceutical products (the common position does not affect the existing legal framework in the field of the distribution and publicity of medicines); book prices (as it stands, the directive not affect the application of set price schemes that exist in certain Member States).
Rapporteur Palacio stresses improvements secured with the Council and good
inter-institutional cooperation
Presenting her report, Mrs. Palacio found it highly symbolic that Parliament should adopt this directive a few days before the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration: at the time, Robert Scchuman had said that Europe would not be created overnight, but through concrete achievements leading to solidarity between European citizens and companies: fifty years ago, the "concrete achievements" were those of the coal and steel community, whereas today we must, in particular, seek them in the information society and more specifically that of electronic commerce. The adoption of this directive represents a very good example of an efficient cooperation between the Parliament, Commission and Council, said the rapporteur, for whom, from the first reading, the European Parliament's position (especially its unambiguous support for the principle of country of origin) had played a vital role in negotiations with the Council, preventing the text's balance from being jeopardized. Mrs. Palacio noted that, thanks to the active cooperation between the Legal Affairs Committee (that she chairs) and the Finnish Presidency of the Council, Parliament had been able to influence the key compromise at Council level, and thus anticipated any risk of engaging in an uncertain conciliation procedure. The European Parliament will carefully examine the proper implementation of the directive into national law, as it will be crucial to avoid any dilution of the positive effect of the directive by bad implementation, Mrs. Palacio exclaimed, stressing the urgent need to adopt "such a modern legal framework", especially due to the competition of American companies and the need to prompt small and medium-sized enterprises and "micro-firms" to embark on "frontier-free commerce" without delay.
One of the Lisbon Summit priorities acted on
Commissioner Frits Bolkestein welcomed the adoption of this "crucial directive" that had been identified at the Lisbon Summit among the priorities in order to make of Europe a society based on knowledge. Mr. Bolkestein hopes that "the speed with which Parliament has worked, thanks to the active cooperation of Ana Palacio, will serve as model for future decision-making concerning the internal market, where legislative change must keep pace with technological developments and innovation".
A press release from the Commission also states that, by 2003, the world market in electronic trade could be worth $1.4 trillion, and that, in Europe, electronic trade has already reached a value of 17 billion euro and should reach 340 billion by 2003.
You may recall that Member States have 18 months, from when the text is published in the Official Journal, to transpose the new directive into their national legislation.