European Legal Aspects of E-Commerce

The year 2000 is a memorable year in the history of e-commerce, the year of the so-called ‘dot.com shake-out’. 2000 was also the year the European Union issued its E-commerce Directive. This directive regulates and facilitates e-commerce in the internal market. On the one hand by laying down a clear and general legal framework favourable for business organisations, and on the other hand by protecting the interests of consumers. The point of departure of this book is the E-commerce Directive. As the directive is a framework directive, it cannot be considered in isolation. Therefore, six related legal texts are addressed; the Distant Selling Directive, the Privacy Directive, the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, the Directive on Electronic Signatures, the Brussels Regulation and the Rome Convention. This book analyses the consequences of the legal framework for business organisations involved with e-commerce.