Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said this week that the EU needed an all-encompassing Internet strategy…

Date: 24/02/2000

...to help it catch up with the US in areas such as e-commerce. "Internet retailing today accounts for only 0.2% of the total EU retail market compared to 1.2% in the US," he told the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee. Meanwhile a spokeswoman for Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne confirmed that he was working on a plan to boost cross-border online sales through a network of out-of- court 'complaint clearing houses' in EU member states. Union-funded studies have shown that European consumers do not trust the Internet because of fears about security and doubts they will be able to seek legal redress if things go wrong.