Brussels, 05/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Commission for information society and the media, Viviane Reding and her counterpart in charge of consumer protection, Meglena Kuneva launched the eYou Guide on Tuesday 5 May in Strasbourg. This will give practical advice on the "digital rights" consumers have under EU law. Even though online purchasing is becoming increasingly popular in Europe (the proportion of consumers who bought online at least one article on the internet went from 27% in 2007 to 33% in 2008), a lot of Europeans still hold back from online transactions. Because they are afraid what they buy online may be faulty. “National borders should no longer complicate European consumers' lives when they go online to buy a book or download a song", said Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "In spite of progress made, we need to ensure that there is a single market for consumers as well as businesses on the web”, explained Reding. Ms Kuneva said that, “"If we want consumers to shop around and exploit the potential of digital communications, then we need to give them confidence that their rights are guaranteed”. 39% of EU internet users have major doubts about safety, and 42% do not dare carry out financial transactions online, explained Commissioner Reding who also drew a parallel between consumer confidence and widespread use of the internet in countries like the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, which have a high number of internet users are also the countries that have the highest level of consumer confidence when purchasing online. The Commission hopes that the guide will also help give confidence and a new boost to this new form of commerce. Nowadays, internet can offer consumers almost everything: downloading of favourite songs, photo and video sharing with their friends and the rest of the world or compare service providers when seeking the best offer. Internet is probably the least bureaucratic means of doing business on a daily basis. However, the internet is still subject to a large number of laws that differ from country to country. Different rules on copyright, data protection and purchaser rights and obligations often disorientate consumers, hamper business and can create a virtual jungle instead of predictability and clarity. To facilitate consumers' lives, the eYou Guide is the first site on the internet that provides a scoreboard of rights and obligations according to national and European laws. If offers numerous European and national contact points and responds to frequently posed questions in clear terminology. It also provides information and advice on number subjects such as: protection of private life and personal data on the internet, safety and security on the internet, rules on online advertising, obligations of service providers or sales with regard to users and consumers, copyright on the internet, questions of responsibility and possibilities for demanding damages and respecting laws. It is currently available in English, French, German and Bulgarian and will have a multilingual terminology, with other languages to be added in coming months. The Commission promises that this will be a dynamic and up to date portal on a rapidly changing digital environment.
With the resolution on consumer confidence on the web, the European Parliament in 2007 called for consumer rights to be clarified. The eYou Guide is the first response from the European Commission to the European Parliament. It follows the revision in 2008 of the i2010 strategy for the digital society, which identifies the need for increasing confidence on the internet and the Commission's recent report on barriers to e-business, which identifies the absence of satisfactory information for consumers, applicable rules representing a barrier to online business (EUROPE 9855). (I.L./trans/rh)