Broadband Shopping in Europe Gets Boost

Shoppers who want to purchase overseas goods from EU countries could soon feel the benefits of new legislation.

According to a European commissioner, new "business to consumer" laws will be introduced later this year, giving broadband buyers greater rights relating to goods they purchase in any of the 27 EU member states.

Consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva said that she wants to bolster the development of Europe-wide price comparison websites and to remove regulatory barriers to goods being shipped across borders. The new legislation is also to crack down on the "unannounced" charges suffered by some broadband shoppers.

"This autumn I will propose new legislation to cut back the current jungle of complex laws; I will table a simplified common set of rules for business to consumer contracts across the EU," she commented. "I believe the time has come to look closely at the legitimacy of market partitioning along national boundaries, notably in online retail,"

Ms Kuneva also said that the majority (56 per cent) of people in the EU had access to online shopping sites - but, of the 150 million who shopped through their internet connections, just 30 million currently bought goods or services from a seller in another member state.