Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-20-Speech-4-199"
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"en.20000120.12.4-199"2
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"Mr President, this question highlights the tension between business and consumer interests in the context of the single market – a tension, I have to say, that I have become all too familiar with as rapporteur on the Brussels Convention.
The idea of coordination has been mentioned. I want to draw attention to an approach, or perhaps a buzz phrase, if you like, that is much used in the UK at the moment in relation to government. We talk about joined-up thinking or joined-up administration. In other words, bridging gaps between departments. This is also a sign of maturity, graduating, as we do at school, from writing in single letters to joined up writing.
The debate on jurisdiction and e-commerce has highlighted this conflict between consumers and web traders. Can a consumer bring an action in his own court if he is entitled to do so? Will this be the death blow to e-commerce?
I propose a package of measures central to which is the theme of access to justice, much trumpeted at Tampere.
Now if the single market is to function properly – to be fully and confidently exploited both by small businesses and consumers – there must be access to justice in civil matters. There must be small claims procedures and alternative dispute resolution. This is absolutely integral to the single market.
But, of course, our Commissioner will say that this is perhaps more the preserve of his colleague, Mr Vitorino, and perhaps also Mr Byrne. This has been my frustration. There are speeches and statements by Mr Byrne and Mr Vitorino in favour of setting up systems to deal with European small claims. We have to bring these statements together. The Commission has to start thinking in a joined-up way – as a joined-up administration. We have a once in a generation opportunity to facilitate the growth of e-commerce.
On the secondary theme, we tend to be drawn towards harmonisation as a means of resolving some of these problems – of resolving the tensions we face. But it is often that process of harmonisation, which can depend too much on legislation, that can be rigid and inflexible and then itself turn into a barrier against the single market. There are such allegations concerning the data protection directive, which is an important piece of consumer protection legislation, but in some Member States it seems to have been over-implemented, resulting in a potential barrier within the single market.
E-commerce is very much a global market. The solutions we adopt have to allow our citizens and businesses to participate in this wider market. In America, which need not necessarily to be our role model – they have adopted a combination of self-regulation and soft law backed by legislation. We should be prepared to look at this sort of mixture of solutions. One has already been mentioned. One of the possible solutions may lie in the hands of the credit card industry. But to take advantage of these, we must act and the Commission must act together in a joined-up manner."@en1
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