Strasbourg, 10/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Adopting by a huge majority the report by Christopher Huhne (British Liberal Democrat) on the Commission's Communication on e-commerce and financial services (see EUROPE of 7 February 2001, p.10), the European Parliament clearly called for the an integrated financial services market to be rapidly set up in order to enable banks and insurance companies to offer their services via the Internet in all Member States.
The Lisbon European Council set 2005 as the deadline for setting up an integrated services market, involving the use of the internet in particular. The EU has already introduced legislation covering e-commerce (which will come into force on 17 January 2002) based on the principle of the country of origin. Parliament highlights, however, that various problems still exist for online financial services since insurance rules, advertising for UCITS (harmonised funds) and electronic currency are not covered by the directive. It deplores the fact that various Member States do not apply the country of origin rule to online financial services and have introduced new national rules that are likely to cut competition. It must be ensured that derogations in existing legislation do not damage the country of origin rule for online financial services in order to protect consumers, argue the MEPs. In parallel, the EP wants uniform protection procedures wherever feasible, to avoid creating an uneven playing field, and therefore urges the Commission to submit a detailed timetable for the abolition of derogations concerning consumer credit and insurance contracts and advertising for UCITS. The EP is also concerned by dispute settlement procedures for consumer credit which could have an adverse impact on the country of origin principle, and welcomes the setting up of a Financial Services Ombudsman to settle cross-border issues.