EU shoppers hesitate to go online - Byrne

Consumers continue to have little confidence in e-commerce, European Commissioner Mr David Byrne told a conference on the topic in Dublin yesterday.

He said the fact that only 16 per cent of EU citizens made use of e-commerce, as detailed in a Eurobarometer poll published yesterday, confirms this lack of trust.

Consumers are not prepared to undertake cross-border purchases in the same way they would domestic purchases, not least because they feel less protected when buying from abroad.

"E-commerce across borders is inhibited due to a basic lack of consumer trust," he told the conference, Building Consumer Confidence in the European Online Marketplace.

He said business was suffering from this lack of trust. "Too many businesses in Europe still do not have a service-orientated approach to their customers. It should not need laws for firms to provide basic remedies such as refunds or simple redress procedures for their customers."

Mr Byrne said confidence could not be "imposed" through the introduction of laws but needs to be addressed by the market players themselves. "That said, a proper regulatory framework is an essential element in consumer confidence." He said that for the EU online market to deliver its true potential, it should be a cross-border market.

A regulatory framework that is the same across Europe and sets a high common level of protection was required. "We have to make sure that such legislation which harmonises consumer protection is adequately enforced, across borders, and equally from member-state to member-state."

He said a proposed EU regulation would aim to set up a network of public agencies that could tackle rogue cross-border e-commerce traders quickly and effectively.

The conference heard the Republic has the second highest level of confidence (17.5 per cent) in consumer protection for internet purchases in other EU countries.

Ms Anne Davidson, a member of the European Economic and Social Committee, told the conference there was a need for the EU to introduce a general duty of care on internet service providers, towards children using the Net. She said parents' concerns about the internet were holding back its use.

A survey of 880 children in the UK aged 10 to 14 years found three-quarters of them had encountered "rude, violent, nasty and upsetting" material on the Net. It found that compared with a similar survey in 2001, more children were using the Net while unsupervised. It also found more children were visiting or encountering gambling websites.

"The research shows the need for EU law to reinforce the current voluntary system to make content providers rate their websites and to improve filtering and notice and take down policies," Ms Davidson said.