eConfidence is crucial to ensuring an information society for all, says Liikanen
Building eConfidence is an essential part of providing an information society for all, says the Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen. Speaking at a conference on security, trust and convenience in the information society on 18 February, Mr Liikanen emphasised the need not only to implement eConfidence measures but also to ensure that people are familiar with new types of technologies and that they trust the suppliers and brand names. 'Indeed, building up consumer confidence [...] has been a key objective within our eEurope strategy in particular in the context of electronic commerce,' said the Commissioner. Increased dialogue with stakeholders, close observation of market developments as well as legislative and non legislative initiatives under the eEurope Action Plan, have helped increase consumer confidence in new technologies, claimed Mr Liikanen. Some of the other eConfidence measures carried out by the Commission include codes of conduct, trust-marks, complaint settlement procedures as well as affordable access to third party alternative dispute resolution (ADR) systems. Mr Liikanen concluded by highlighting the integral role that eConfidence plays in the overall strategy of the Lisbon agenda, which aims to promote a wider take up of different information communication technologies (ICT) applications and services, which in turn will lead to increased productivity and competitiveness, bringing benefits to society as a whole.