Industry and consumers clashed late last week over draft rules…

Date: 11/11/1999

...which would allow consumers to take grievances over Internet purchases to a local court. Firms selling, or planning to sell goods online argued the move would seriously stunt the e-commerce market by exposing them to the risk of lawsuits in any one of the EU's 15 member states. But European consumer group BEUC insisted the rules were needed to ensure firms “played fair” on the Internet.