European legal aspects of e-commerce

Abstract:

E-commerce suffered the ‘dot.com shake-out’ in the year 2000 and in that same year the European Union issued its E-commerce Directive. This book deals with the European legal aspects of e-commerce, starting with the Directive and six related legal texts which are considered to be particularly relevant to e-commerce. The book aims to provide for business organisations a clear description of these legal texts and their probable impact upon e-commerce.

The work is comprised of eight substantive chapters and a conclusion. Chapter one gives the introduction, offering definitions of various types of e-commerce and a general background to the topic. The subsequent chapters each deal with a law and follow the same structure as that introduced in chapter two, which explores the E-commerce Directive. Chapter three examines the Distant Selling Directive which covers those contracts concerning goods or services concluded at a distance between consumer and supplier, and which are not confined to e-commerce. Chapter four deals with the Privacy Directive which aims to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, particularly those relating to privacy and the handling of personal data. The general principles laid down in the Privacy Directive are particularised and complemented in the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, which is discussed in chapter five. The Directive on Electronic Signatures is the subject of chapter six. International aspects of e-commerce and Internet activity are discussed in chapter seven, which deals with the Brussels Regulation that updated the earlier Brussels Convention. The rules governing the applicable law in international relations are covered by the Rome Convention which might follow the Brussels Convention and be converted to a community instrument - all of which is explored in chapter eight. The general findings of earlier chapters and conclusions of the analysis of this new legal framework are drawn together in the concluding chapter nine.

The work will interest scholars students practitioners, policy makers and business leaders engaged in e-commerce and the law relating thereto.

Martien Schaub is a Researcher in the School of Business, Public Administration and Technology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, focussing on legal aspects of e-commerce.