Launch of Commission-funded multilingual eBusiness portal approaches
eLexPortal.com the result of a project funded by the Fifth Framework Programme's (FP5) Information Society Technologies (IST) programme, will be launched at the Online information conference in London on 4 to 6 December and exhibited at the Commission's IST event in Düsseldorf on 3 to 5 December. The new multilingual portal for eBusiness aims to provide non specialist entrepreneurs and business people with information on the different legislative and regulatory systems across the EU which affect eCommerce. The site will start by providing information in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and will later expand to cover all 11 EU languages. Information will be provided free of charge, and will be quickly and easily accessible. The information obtained could be used to provide companies' legal advisors with preliminary guidance on the particular areas which should be addressed. A 'regulatory enquiry service' will provide clear explanations on eCommerce regulatory issues. 'Specialist international legal advice is notoriously expensive, and in many cases a local legal firm will be unlikely to be in a position to provide information on the legislative situation related to jurisdictions other than their own, said Geoffrey Thompson, Managing Director of ERIN and project coordinator of eLexPortal. The service will also include the collection and publication of best practice in the form of case studies, providing links and interfaces to existing online sources of information, as well as generating online tutorials for users of eLexPortal.com.