MEPs to call for changes to online shopping rules

Date: 16/03/2000

By Peter Chapman

EURO MPs are set to call for wholesale changes to proposed new rules to govern the rights of online shoppers involved in legal rows over their purchases.

The European Parliament's legal affairs committee will next week debate plans to amend a legal treaty known as the Brussels Convention to allow online shoppers to take companies to court in their own member state, rather than the supplier's home country, if problems arise.

MEPs are expected to support UK Liberal rapporteur Diana Wallis' report on the issue which insists that it must be made "absolutely clear" that the new rules will only apply to cases where online traders have "solicited" business from foreign customers. Otherwise, she argues, small companies which did not set out to sell their services across borders could face costly legal proceedings which they are not able to fight.

Parliamentarians from all sides are also set to back Wallis' calls for the Commission to speed up efforts to ensure consumers and firms have access to effective 'alternative' dispute resolution systems to allow disputes to be settled quickly and cheaply out of court, and her insistence that changes to the Brussels Convention must not be adopted until these are up and running.

But they are split over whether the draft rules should be amended to allow firms to stipulate on their web sites that any legal dispute involving the goods or services they supply will be heard by law courts in their country.

British Conservative MEP Lord Inglewood argues that this would be fair because customers could opt to buy products from another company if they did not like the clause, and says it would give a massive boost to small firms which want to take advantage of the opportunities offered by electronic commerce but fear the risk of legal battles across the EU.

But Wallis claims this would be illegal following a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice on a Spanish case relating to EU legislation on unfair contracts.

Euro MPs are set to call for wholesale changes to proposed new rules to govern the rights of online shoppers involved in legal rows over their purchases. The European Parliament's legal affairs committee will debate plans to amend a legal treaty known as the Brussels Convention to allow online shoppers to take companies to court in their own Member State, rather than the supplier's home country, if problems arise.