The European E-Commerce Directive, which comes into force today in
the UK, could prove a nightmare for IT directors and will leave
businesses facing extra costs and an increased administrative
burden to ensure their Web sites are compliant.
James Mullock, solicitor at law firm Osborne Clark OWA, said, "The
new regulation represents a potential minefield for IT directors
and anyone involved in commercial contracts."
The legislation puts in place policies for identifying unsolicited
e-mail such as spam and lists a number of steps e-commerce site
owners need to take. These include ensuring the site contains key
information such as a person to contact, a business address and
information to help a user complete and amend an e-commerce
transaction.
The Government's Department of Trade and Industry organised a
consultation ahead of the new regulations, where it sought to gauge
the additional costs of compliance.
One respondent estimated costs at £60, 000 to 90,000 in legal fees
and £80, 000 to 120,000 in engineering and technical costs.
Despite the costs and potential difficulties, the directive could
be good news for online retailers and service providers, according
to Charlotte Walker-Osborn, IT expert at law firm Eversheds.
"The regulations give online service providers a greater certainty
to operate in, particularly as they mean consumers will be less
likely to take action," she said.
Ironically, consumers were given extra powers to take action
against foreign online service providers by EU laws passed earlier
this year.
The Brussels Regulations allow consumers to bring proceedings in
their own country when companies are considered to have pursued
commercial or professional activities in that country or, by any
means, "directed" activities at that country. But the fact that
they would probably now need to use foreign lawyers would dissuade
most from taking any action, Walker-Osborn said.
The country-of-origin principle was one of a number of changes to
the original draft regulations that the UK Government implemented
after intense lobbying from industry bodies such as the Internet
Service Providers' Association.
Other important changes include the regulations which set out that
providers will not be liable for "pecuniary remedy or any criminal
sanction", or damages, in the case of illegal material over which
they have little control.
DTI guide to the e-commerce directivewww.dti.gov.uk/cii/docs/ecommerce/businessguidance.pdf