Proposals on online sale of goods and digital content - BusinessEurope comments

Key messages

BusinessEurope has long advocated for more harmonisation of contract rules in business-to-consumer transactions, which is why it welcomes the fact that both Commission proposals on digital contracts (with some exceptions) follow a full targeted harmonisation approach.

This being said, harmonisation should not come at any cost. In BusinessEurope’s view, a number of conditions need to be met by these proposals in order for them to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market, also in its digital dimension. They need to:

• Provide for a realistic level of protection ensuring a balance between consumers and business interest.
• Be clear, future proof and coherent with other European legislation.
• Leave out rules related to business-to-business transactions(B2B).
• Help advancing the better regulation agenda, especially by lowering administrative burdens and compliance costs on traders, simplify the legislative framework and ensure coherence of the regulatory environment

In BusinessEurope’s view, some of these criteria still need to be fulfilled. Therefore, and without prejudice to a more detailed assessment at a later stage, BusinessEurope would like to make a number of technical comments and propose solutions which we urge co-legislators to take into account in the legislative procedure.