The EC said the proposals on digital content and online sale of goods ‘will tackle the main obstacles to cross-border e-commerce in the EU: legal fragmentation in the area of consumer contract law and resulting high costs for businesses - especially SMEs - and low consumer trust when buying online from another country’.

Harmonisation ‘long-term target’

According to the EC, full harmonisation of copyright law across the European Union remains a ‘long-term target’. The proposal notes that creating a single code ‘would require substantial changes in the way our rules work today’, but that ‘these complexities cannot be a reason to relinquish this vision’.

’Better safeguards’

The Confederation of British Industry called for ‘better safeguards, like clear residency and ownership tests, in place to protect the business models of our film and music makers and their ability to reinvest in new content’. Source: The Law Society Gazette