Brussels, 19/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes brought together consumer and industry representatives at a round table meeting on e-commerce in Brussels on 17 September. The Commissioner was concerned that, even within the European Union, online consumers “often find that the products they are looking for are not available to them. As Competition Commissioner, I want to know why,” she said. For this reason then, she convened the meeting with: Bernard Arnault, Chief Executive of LVMH; John Donahue, President of eBay; John Elkann, Vice-Chairman of FIAT; Roger Faxon, Chief Executive of EMI; Sir Mick Jagger, lead singer with the group “The Rolling Stones”; Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple; Bernard Miyet, President of the SACEM; and Peter Vicary Smith, Chief Executive of Which? (the UK consumers organisation). The meeting was chaired by Ben Verwaayen, Chief Executive of Alcatel. The group will submit its report on 15 October.
The markets for goods ordered over the internet are working reasonably well, said Commissioner Kroes in a press release on 17 September. She felt that it was mainly a matter of ensuring that the regulations already in place were complied with. The situation with regard to online music was a little more complex, she acknowledged. The issues paper for the meeting will be available at: http: //ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/consultations/online_commerce.html (C.D./transl.rt)