The Swedish EU Presidency has also announced its plans to appoint the new Commissioners, the high representative for foreign policy and the permanent European Council President at the EU summit on 29th and 30th October. Such plans will be dependent on a favourable outcome of the Irish referendum on the 2nd October.

For any questions, do not hesitate to contact us: publicaffairs@iabeurope.eu .

Giovanna Fumagalli

Public Affairs IAB Europe

1. EU Post i2010 - creating the "Digital Single Market"
2. Barroso re-elected, new Commissioner for human rights expected
3. EU: Update on the telecoms package
4. Stockholm Programme debate intensifies
5. EU: Commission adopts State Aid Guidelines to clarify broadband goals
6. EU on alcohol advertising
7. Updates on Consumer Protection
8. Updates on the internet
9. EU research shows electronics websites to mislead customers
10. BEUC event on Online Marketing

1. EU Post i2010 - creating the "Digital Single Market"

On 25th September, the Commission hosted a public hearing on the next five-year policy strategy for the EU online single market, such as low carbon economy, research & innovation in ICT, high speed networks, etc.

The hearing was based on a study entitled "A Green Knowledge Society" done by the Swedish presidency and was published on 12th September. The post-i2010 consultation process runs parallel to another one launched by the Swedish Presidency, in preparation of a conference organized in Visby (Sweden), in November 2009.

Of particular interest to IAB are chapter 7 on the single market in ICT and chapter 9 on online trust.

The study points out the disadvantages of far too fragmented EU legislative framework and the benefits a single EU market for ICT would have for citizens and national governments. Trust in ICT is crucial as the internet provides a global platform for e-commerce and online services. The role of the EU is to improve the security of ICT infrastructure, provide a regulatory framework so that ICT can be used safely.

Regarding online trust, the study highlights major security risks (through attack, accident or negligence) such as individual risks (such as intrusions of privacy or harmful content), or economic risks (fraud), or risks related to public services which rely on a vulnerable infrastructure. Member States coordination, together with a strong political will, is necessary in order to achieve a safer online environment.

The Study’s vision of a Green Knowledge Society is “We need to move towards a coherent and overarching ICT policy as the way governments support a ‘knowledge society’. Such a policy should embrace the rigour of consumer protection, market regulation, risk analysis, and so on, with its own body of administrative law, such as that concerning privacy, online profiling and retention of data. This is a much broader concept for ICT policy than traditionally conceived. Because ICT now underpins everything in our economy and society, it needs to be thought of in much the same way as energy, taxation or sewage. That demands a realistic and constructive policy for everyday use and to support long-term goals, and this is the aim of this report.”

As for what should be done for the digital single market, the European Digital Media Association recalled that there is currently no EU single market for tangible or intangible goods and services. It is important to tackle the issue of the online single market so that consumers can have greater choice and greater access to cultural works, and the industry itself could benefit from a more efficient environment. For the future, we should also examine governance of the internet, as it has grown into a crucial economic and social foundation. [ … ] A review is needed of regulatory policy and practice for providers of internet connection, email and portals in order better to protect end users. Commonly enforceable EU controls need service level agreements on ‘internet dial tone’, email, spam controls, malware distribution and privacy issues, especially profiling.

As an efficient way to fight piracy, the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC), highlighted the importance of respecting consumers’ digital rights, fostering the availability of content online, developing new business models and more legitimate offers, and facilitating multi-territorial licensing of content (which could be combined with a database/registry that can help identify copyright holders). Consumer protection advocates stressed that consumers need to feel that their rights (including privacy) are enforced online. According to the study: “If access to networks and the capacity to use services are necessary to participate in the knowledge society, then a key question is whether these should become fundamental rights that should be enshrined specifically in a kind of charter of digital rights. As well as the right to access, such rights might include freedom of speech, privacy, identity, data protection, security, and protection from malicious software, IPR, and so on.”

Kenneth Ducatel, in charge of the Lisbon Strategy and i2010, explained that the i2010 strategy, the policy framework for Infso, is an important part of the Lisbon strategy, particularly following the re-election of Mr. Barroso as Commission President. At the end of March 2010, a Communication based on the answers to the current public consultation will be published, and it should be seen as a strategy paper forming the basis of an informal ministerial meeting in April 2010 to give strategic impulses for the development of the Information Society. Mr Ducatel also announced that on 26th -27th May next year, there will be a global congress on information technologies in Amsterdam, at which EU is expected to lead the discussions.

The Swedish Presidency shall host a conference on Europe’s future IT policy on 9th -10th November in Visby. With a view to work towards a common platform for a European IT policy agenda by 2015, the conference shall bring together Member States, the European Commission, the European Parliament and stakeholder organisations and also discuss the Swedish report “A Green Knowledge Society”.

To access the consultation on the follow-up to the i2010 strategy, please click here:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/pc_post-i2010/index_en.htm

To access the EU Swedish Presidency report on the green knowledge-society, please click here:
http://www.se2009.eu/polopoly_fs/1.14425!menu/standard/file/A%20green%20knowledge%20society_low%20res_web_12_09_09.pdf

To access the Amsterdam 2010 conference website, click here:
http://www.wcit2010.org/

For the Barroso Manifesto and his European Digital Agenda, click here:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/pdf/press_20090903_EN.pdf

2. Barroso re-elected, new Commissioner for human rights expected

On 16th September the Parliament reappointed José Manuel Barroso as Commission President for a second five-year term.

Obtaining 382 votes in favour (219 against and 117 abstained), the former Portuguese Prime Minister achieved an absolute majority even though only a simple majority was required under Nice Treaty rules.

After meeting with ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt before the vote, Mr Barroso agreed that the new College of Commissioners shall include a Commissioner responsible for fundamental rights and civil liberties. The new post will give greater attention to data protection issues as well as immigration and the rights of migrants in member states.

On 29th September MEP In’t Veld (ALDE, NL), announced plans to create a European Parliament Intergroup, to further examine how Governments and businesses use consumers’ personal data. Ms. In’t Veld supports the idea of a European Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, including data protection and privacy.

Click here for a detailed summary of Mr Barroso’s speech:
http://7thspace.com/headlines/318834/european_commission_president_jos_manuel_barroso_proposes_a_partnership_for_progress_and_ambition_to_the_european_parliament.html

3. EU: Update on the telecoms package

In the first week of September, at the ITRE Committee, MEP Trautmann and MEP del Castillo, rapporteurs for the Telecoms package, gave a brief presentation on the status of the discussions with the Council.

The Parliament and the Swedish Presidency agree that no further issues should be added to the conciliation procedure: therefore, MEP Harbour’s report and the provisions on the use of cookies will not be re-negotiated. Neither the Commission nor the Council intend to introduce an opt-in – the Council is currently preparing a “Council declaration” to clarify their intentions. Another controversial issue is Amendment 138, but many Council Members wish to restrict discussions on it.

The procedure is likely to take several weeks: the Parliament is now waiting for the Council’s common position, which will reject the results of the Parliament vote, because it ignored the compromise agreed by the two institutions.

The European Parliament delegation to the conciliation phase of the Telecoms Package met for the first time on 28th September and delegated their powers to three representatives: Spanish Conservative Alejo Vidal-Quadras, German Conservative Herbert Reul and French Socialist Catherine Trautmann.

The Council must appoint representatives of the 27 Member States on the 28th September before entering into ‘trialogue’ talks with the Parliament and the Commission the following day.

The Council is still yet to officially reject the Parliament’s position. Once both sides decide when they will be able to open the Conciliation Committee, they will have six to eight weeks to find a solution to amendment 138 (that a prior judicial decision is needed to restrict a user’s access to the internet), the sticking point of the Package. Council sources have confirmed that such an amendment would interfere with national laws.

Pirate Party MEP Christian Engström hopes for broad and open negotiations with the council, fearing that no compromise can be reached if all talks solely surround amendment 138.

Click here for more information:
http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/pressreleases/dok/306/306870.telecoms_package@en.htm

4. Stockholm Programme debate intensifies

Work on the EU’s Stockholm Programme is underway. The Programme, which focuses on EU priorities in justice and home affairs over the coming years, is expected to be agreed on by Member State justice ministers in late October. In response to a Commission Communication the UK government was keen to stress the importance of data protection as a prerequisite for information sharing, particularly with regard to cross-border transactions.

Click here for more information:
http://www.se2009.eu/en/the_presidency/about_the_eu/justice_and_home_affairs/1.1965

Meanwhile, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has released his Annual Report, the fourth of its kind since the EDPS began working as an independent supervisory authority. The report shows the dual role of the EDPS as a supervisor and an adviser to have made good progress.

Click here for the report:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=EDPS/09/10&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

5. EU: Commission adopts State Aid Guidelines to clarify broadband goals

In a bid to provide a clear framework for public funding towards accelerating and widening access to broadband across the EU, the European Commission has adopted a set of Guidelines for stakeholders and Member States to follow. Neelie Kroes, the Competition Commissioner, states that the guidelines are a “transparent tool to ensure that their plans for state funding of broadband are compliant with the EU's state aid rules.” The Guidelines, which also cover long term digital initiatives such as Next Generation Access networks, are expected to take Europe one step closer to its goal of becoming a knowledge- based society.

Click here for the article:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1332&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

And here for Commissioner Kroes’ speech:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/394&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

The EU is also to invest €18 million into research to provide a future ultra high-speed mobile internet. The funding shall pave the way for next generation 4G mobile networks. Viviane Reding, the EU's Commissioner for Telecoms and Media, said that this will create tremendous opportunities for Europe’s growing digital economy.

Click here for the full press release:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1238

6. EU on alcohol advertising

Council:
On 21-22 September, at a conference on alcohol and health the Swedish Public Health Minister, Maria Larsson set out the Swedish Presidency’s priorities on alcohol advertising and marketing. The conference was attended by the Director General of DG SANCO Robert Madelin and many EU and member states officials. The outcomes were not really encouraging for the industry because of the calls for a tobacco-like ban on all advertising and marketing communications: young people are too exposed to alcohol advertising and marketing in all its forms, and that this is encouraging take up and excessive drinking.
The conference agenda gave priority to the voice of NGOs and academics and they built on concern that young people are too exposed to alcohol advertising and marketing in all its forms. Self-regulation was heavily criticised as “voluntary” and self-regulatory codes focus on content but not volume restriction. A strong defence of self-regulation was given by the ASA (UK) and the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA).
The Swedish Presidency’s alcohol strategy focuses on a 4 point plan, including reviewing the impact of marketing communications on young people and the Swedish Minister stated that voluntary agreements can work well, but that it "remains to be seen whether economic actors are constructive in the dialogue".
Sweden will put alcohol policy on the agenda of the December Public Health Council of Ministers.
Under the present EU Treaty, the EU cannot introduce advertising bans or restrictions for public health reasons, and can only recommend a solution on Member States. Should the Lisbon Treaty be ratified though, the EU would be able to legislate on public health grounds related to the abuse of alcohol. Similarly, the WHO is currently developing a global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol. Its recommendations are not mandatory but are likely to influence the debate.
Click here for more information:
http://www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/9/22/the_elderly_marketing_and_pricing_policy_in_focus_at_conference_on_alcohol_and_health?localLinksEnabled=false

Parliament:

The European Parliament was host to a conference on Alcohol and Pregnancy on 9th September. MEPs and Swedish Ministers spoke about alcohol related problems such as the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and there was support for health warning messages to be placed on alcohol bottles and also for similar messages to feature in advertisements. Don Shenker, from Alcohol Concern, criticised the UK drinks industry for not implementing the voluntary labelling agreement and called for such labelling to be mandatory on bottles and in adverts.

Commission:

To mark its 10th anniversary, DG SANCO has launched an online debate (until 9th October) to engage the general public in EU health and consumer policy. The findings will be presented at a seminar on 23rd October. http://europa.eu/debateeurope

7. Updates on Consumer Protection

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee has discussed the draft Consumer Rights Directive, which aims to harmonise contractual rules from different existing consumer protection directives. A Rapporteur shall be appointed in the coming weeks and also a political party will be chosen to lead the work.

Click here to view the draft Directive:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/com/com_com%282008%290614_/com_com%282008%290614_en.pdf
~~~ # ~~~

The Austrian Permanent Representation hosted a panel discussion on the proposed EU Consumer Rights Directive on 9th September. It was attended by DG SANCO representatives, MEPs, BEUC, Eurochambres and the Chamber of Labour.

Jacqueline Minor, from DG SANCO spoke about the need to remove the current obstacles facing consumers and businesses when making cross-border purchases.

Socialist MEP Evelyne Gebhardt criticised the Commission’s desire to fully harmonise consumer laws stating that different aspects of consumer rights needed different approaches. For similar reasons Ulrike Tembler from the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK Europe) was against the proposals.

Ursula Pachl from the European Consumers' Organisation BEUC was also critical of the Commission and said that the proposals are far below the existing levels of protection in many Member States. She also questioned the Commission’s claim that uniform consumer rights in the EU would result in lower prices and offer consumers a greater choice.

Ben Butters, from EUROCHAMBRES was in favour of the proposals stating that it was important to support entrepreneurs and also provide legal certainty for cross-border businesses.

Ms Minor concluded that it was important for the Commission to ascertain an “appropriate level” of harmonsied consumer protection and that it would not be possible for all member states to have as high protection as currently exists in Austria or Germany.

Click here to view the draft Directive:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/com/com_com%282008%290614_/com_com%282008%290614_en.pdf
~~~ # ~~~

On 29th September, the IMCO committee hosted a public hearing on the Consumer Rights Directive. MEPs, Commission officials, academics, consumer and business groups were present.

The Rapporteur, MEP Andreas Schwab (EPP-ED, Germany) stated that only certain aspects of consumer law (distance selling, sales in the home, information, withdrawal) should be fully harmonised, other issues, such as contract clauses, should not be harmonised.

Mrs Paola Testori Coggi, the Deputy General of DG SANCO, said that the Commission is prepared to compromise on a number of issues, but not on the full harmonisation principle. Commission officials, however, stressed that the Directive will not interfere with national contract laws.

Hans Schulte-Noelke from the university of Osnabrück criticised the Directive’s lack of clarity and went on to say that it would be almost impossible to introduce the full harmonization principle in the current environment, targeted harmonisation was the best solution.

Mr Pierre Chalancon from Vorwerk&Co KG argued that full harmonisation at a high level of consumer protection would be beneficial for business and consumers.

Mrs Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC, favoured a mixed harmonised approach and highlighted similar concerns to other speakers

Finally Mr Andres Dölling from the Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU stated that many Member States oppose the full harmonisation principle.

~~~ # ~~~

DG SANCO launched a public consultation (open until 5th October) on plans to create a system to classify and report consumer complaints.

Click here for the Communication:
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/strategy/docs/communication_harmonised_methodology_en.pdf

~~~ # ~~~

On 14th September the Commission announced plans to set up a European Consumer Consultative Group to act as an adviser on new policies affecting consumers. The group shall be made up of representatives from consumer organisations from each Member State and European consumer organisations.

Click here to view the Commission Decision:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:244:0021:0024:EN:PDF

8. Updates on the internet

On the 14th and 15th September the 2nd European Dialogue on Internet Governance in Geneva took place bringing together politicians, businesses and civil society. The conference highlighted the importance of protecting of human rights, ensuring universal access to the Internet as a public service and promoting media literacy. The discussions should pave the way for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which will take place from 15 to 18 November 2009 in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Click here for more information:
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/News/EuroDIG_2009_en.asp

The development of new technologies poses challenges and opens up new possibilities for traditional, fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression online. The Swedish Presidency will host a seminar to discuss freedom of expression on the internet, on 6th October, during the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. The seminar will include speakers from industry, academia and the Swedish government and will focus on finding ways to promote human rights on the internet.

On 17th September the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) discussed a new approach to regulating social networking sites. It was suggested that an EU Ombudsman should be appointed to oversee the protection of human dignity, privacy and data protection in the audiovisual sector. Before submitting its final opinion on the matter in November, the EESC must check that it is in line with other related developments in EU Institutions.

Click here for the full article:
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.18/eesc-social-networking-websites

9. EU research shows electronics websites to mislead customers

Research conducted by the Commission has shown that more than half of Europe’s electronic goods websites are in breach of consumer laws. Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva announced that misleading information about the total cost of products was the greatest concern. Offending websites are in danger of being fined or suspended but this can only be done after warnings are issued at the national level.

Click here for more information:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2703a8c-9c92-11de-ab58-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=70662e7c-3027-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html

10. BEUC event on Online Marketing

The consumer organization BEUC will host a Multi-Stakeholder Forum on “Consumer privacy and online marketing: Market trends and policy perspectives”, on 12th November in Brussels. IAB Europe President will speak at the event.

The forum will address issues of new marketing techniques, such as profiling and targeting and the many concerns regarding data protection and privacy that accompany them.

High level experts representing a variety of stakeholders will share their expertise. Other keynote speakers include Commissioners Meglena Kuneva and Viviane Reding as well as Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor.

The morning plenary session will focus on current market trends and techniques of online advertising; the workshops will address more specific issues such as online marketing to children, behavioural targeting, deep packet inspection and neurosciences, UCP and alternative business models.

For more information visit: www.beucforum2009.eu

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