Final report on the e-commerce sector inquiry

On 6 May 2015, the Commission launched a sector inquiry into the electronic commerce ('e-commerce') of consumer goods and digital content in the EU. The e-commerce sector inquiry forms part of the Digital Single Market strategy adopted on the same day. The strategy outlines several key actions under three pillars through which the Commission plans to create a 'Digital Single Market'. One of these pillars relates to ensuring better access for consumers and businesses to goods and services via e-commerce across the EU.

E-commerce in the EU has grown steadily in recent years. Today the EU is one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world. The rapid development of e-commerce affects consumers and businesses alike. The e-commerce sector inquiry allowed the Commission to obtain an overview of the prevailing market trends and gather evidence on competition barriers linked to the growth of e-commerce. It also allowed the Commission to understand the prevalence of certain business practices and their underlying rationale, and ultimately to identify priorities for enforcing the EU competition rules.

For the purposes of the e-commerce sector inquiry, requests for information were addressed to stakeholders between June 2015 and March 2016. On 15 September 2016, the Commission published a Preliminary Report on the initial findings of the inquiry. The publication of the Preliminary Report was followed by a public consultation open to all interested stakeholders. The public consultation ended on 18 November 2016. Interested stakeholders also expressed their views at a stakeholder conference in Brussels on 6 October 2016.

This Report is accompanied by a Staff Working Document which summarises the main findings of the e-commerce sector inquiry and incorporates comments submitted by stakeholders during the public consultation. The document is divided into two separate sections: the first section covers e-commerce of consumer goods, while the second focuses on e-commerce of digital content.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Commission publishes final report on e-commerce sector inquiry http://www.europeansources.info/record/antitrust-commission-publishes-final-report-on-e-commerce-sector-inquiry/

EUR-Lex: SWD(2017)154: Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the report http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2017:154:FIN

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