Battle looms over Internet disputes

Date: 07/09/00

By Peter Chapman

A FIERCE battle is likely in the European Parliament later this month over planned new EU legislation to govern where dissatisfied consumers can sue companies over disputes involving goods bought on the Internet.

The impending clash follows a crucial vote by the assembly's legal affairs committee, which resulted in a narrow defeat for a key report on the issue by UK liberal MEP Diana Wallis.

The European Commission and member states agreed in principle last year to draft rules which would allow customers to take action in their own courts in e-commerce disputes. But industry has attacked this approach, warning that firms would be deterred from trading online if they faced potential legal claims in foreign courts throughout the Union.

In her report, Wallis called on the Commission to push out-of-court 'alternative dispute resolution' (ADR) schemes as a simpler way of solving disputes over, for example, the non-delivery of goods or faulty merchandise. However, centre-right group rivals led by Spanish MEP Ana Palacio and the UK's Theresa Villiers fear this would still leave firms open to a plethora of legal cases.

They added an amendment to Wallis' report which would allow companies to delare on their websites that disatisfied customers can only take legal action against them in the country where the firm is based. But Wallis claims a recent European Court of Justice judgement has cast doubt on the legality of such 'jurisdiction clauses'.

A fierce battle is likely in the European Parliament over planned new EU legislation to govern where dissatisfied consumers can sue companies over disputes involving goods bought on the Internet.