European Union trade ministers have approved a law creating a single legal framework for electronic commerce in a bid to help the 15-nation bloc match U.S. progress in the area.
The law sets out a minimum set of rules for buying and selling goods over the Internet and electronic networks and aims to create legal certainty for companies which will not have to comply with the individual laws of all 15 EU countries.
Instead they will be regulated by the so-called “country of origin” principle which means they will only be subject to the laws in the country where they are operating.
Charles Prescott, vice president of international business development for the Direct Marketing Association said the group was most concerned with provisions in this law that restrict unsolicited commercial e-mails, or “spam.”
