e-Economy still lacks e-confidence - Byrne
Consumers have still not gained sufficient confidence to use the e-Economy to its full potential, said European Health and consumer protection Commissioner, David Byrne at the a conference focusing on the issue on 2 March. He pointed out that, despite a high level of publicity and visibility, business to consumer commerce has been disappointing. E-commerce accounts for less than 1 per cent of retail sales in the European Union. 'We are confronted by what I certainly call the e-confidence barrier,' he said. He attributed several reasons to this. The transparency of differing currency prices will be helped next year when the introduction of the euro will make it easier to shop around. But there are other issues which have not been addressed, such as the privacy and confidentiality of financial information disclosed over the Internet and recourse to the retailer in case of dissatisfaction, both of which are still cause for concern. Mr Byrne also pointed to surveys which show that e-businesses are not 'getting the basics right' such as providing what they are paid for on time. While e-businesses have fallen victim to the negative image problem generated by the publicity given to high profile failures, there is also the problem of lack of progress on agreement over common codes of practice. 'At a more general level, I am looking at the future of regulatory models for consumers and enterprise in the context of the new economy,' said Mr Byrne. 'The basic question is does the present approach to regulation meet the pace of change in the new economy? I do not believe that it does, and we are faced, with being overtaken by developments in the market.' He said that two key issues would have to be agreed in order for this new co-regulation and self regulation to work: ensuring representativity and a clear relationship with the legal framework. He also said that he could see advantages in the USA's approach to this issue.