The Commission's Washington Office has a very useful guide 
at http://www.eurunion.org/infores/resguide.htm
There are links to other sites on my page (URL below)

This message was also copied recently to eurodoc:

E-commerce directive adopted: internal market established for 
Information Society services 

An internal market for Information Society services in Europe will shortly 
become a reality following the final adoption of the Electronic Commerce 
Directive by the European Parliament. 

The directive was identified as a top priority at the recent 'dotcom' summit 
in Lisbon, and its speedy adoption represents a high degree of cooperation 
between the Commission, Council and Parliament. 

Member States now have 18 months to adopt the directive, which will ensure 
that the internal market principles of free movement of services and freedom 
of establishment apply to electronic commerce and related services 
throughout the European Union. 

The move is intended to boost competitiveness in electronic commerce and 
related services, accelerating Europe's transition to the new 
knowledge-based society. 

Welcoming the final adoption of the directive on 4 May, Internal Market 
Commissioner Frits Bolkestein promised to ensure an equally efficient 
implementation in Member States. 'The speed with which Parliament has 
worked, thanks to the active co-operation of the rapporteur Ana Palacio, 
will I hope serve as a model for future decision-making concerning the 
Internal Market, where legislative change must keep pace with technological 
developments and innovation in order to be timely and effective,' he said. 

'This landmark decision will foster the growth of electronic commerce in 
Europe and so allow citizens and business to reap huge potential benefits in 
terms of jobs, choice of goods and services and access to markets. In order 
for business and consumers alike to benefit fully from the Directive as soon 
as possible, I will pay particular attention to ensuring that Member States 
implement the Directive in national legislation correctly and on time.' 

The Directive covers all Information Society services, both business to 
business and business to consumer, and services provided free of charge to 
the recipient. It establishes specific harmonised rules - where strictly 
necessary - to ensure European businesses and citizens can receive 
Information Society services irrespective of frontiers. 

The areas covered include definition of where operators are established, 
transparency obligations for operators, transparency requirements for 
commercial communications, conclusion and validity of electronic contracts, 
liability of Internet intermediaries, on-line dispute settlement and the 
role of national authorities. In other areas the directive builds on 
existing EU instruments which provide for harmonisation or mutual 
recognition of national laws. 

The Directive applies only to service providers established within the EU, 
but care has been taken to avoid incompatibility and inconsistency with 
legal developments in other parts of the world so as to avoid obstacles to 
global electronic commerce. In some areas the directive provides solutions 
that may serve as a model at international level. 

Proposals laid out in the Directive clarify areas of uncertainty such as the 
place of establishment, defined as the place where an operator actually 
pursues an economic activity through a fixed establishment, irrespective of 
where web-sites or servers are situated or where the operator may have a 
mail box. Once adopted, Member States will be obliged to recognise the 
national laws in the country of origin as applicable to Information Society 
services. Furthermore, they will be required to remove any prohibitions or 
restrictions on the use of electronic contracts. 

The directive will ensure legal security by imposing certain information 
requirements for the conclusion of electronic contracts in particular in 
order to help consumers to avoid technical errors. These provisions will 
complement the recently adopted directive on electronic signatures 

Reference: CORDIS, Based on press release IP/00/442
 
On Tue, 9 May 2000 16:54:03 +0100  
[log in to unmask] wrote:

> 
> I wonder if anyone can give me some guidance on the following matter:
> 
> I need to find out the legislative process whereby a directive becomes law.
> Specifically, I am referring to the e commerce directive which had its
> second reading under the co-decision procedure in the EU Parliament on 4
> May. What is the next step/steps in the process? When is the directive
> likely to become law? 
> 
> I have had a look at the Europa site but cannot find anything which details
> the process in which a directive becomes law.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> 
> Trevor Harvey
> Clifford Chance
> Limited Liability Partnership
> 200 Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4JJ
> Switchboard: +44 20 7600 1000 ext 1207
> Fax: +44 20 7282 6550
> [log in to unmask]
> 
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> 
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----------------------
Patrick Overy
EDC Librarian

University of Exeter
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