On Internet Business

What the EC Digital Agenda means for online business

Posted by Michael under Online Retail

The European Commission’s recently announced Digital Agenda was negotiated against the background of the rise of the Celtic Tiger and Southern European ‘harmonisation’ but unveiled against the current economic situation – Greece and the Ireland in crisis and other countries battling their deficits. So what might the Agenda achieve and how will it support the growth of sustainable business online?

Burdens or Benefits?

First, there’s the legislative burden: 31 new laws across the EU, all aiming to increase the number of Europeans accessing online services and the range of resources they can use when they do. Key goals for business include the 2020 aim of half of all European households subscribing to 100 Mbps or above broadband services; steps to encourage electronic payments; removal of regulatory barriers and simplifying digital copyright management and licensing. It all sounds great, but it all needs to be paid for and there’s no detail on how such goals will be met. For example what’s the incentive for the goal that all citizens should be able to access basic broadband by 2013? The EU is full of rural areas where operators currently don’t find it economically viable to deliver services.

Then there’s the plan to have a rapid response system for cyber-attacks. In a UK currently scratching its head over the scrapping of identity cards, such over-arching structures, predicated on security and defensive measures, will be viewed with vast scepticism.

Business Focus

However, one area where rapid progress could be made is a key one for online retail, service provision and communications: by 2020, the EU aims to have 20% of EU citizens using cross-border online services – at present a bare 7% of online transactions made by European consumers are cross-border in nature.

Neelie Kroes, VP European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, made it clear how the Agenda needs to work, ‘Europe must maximise the potential of ICT in delivering economic growth… To fully realise the potential of Europe’s digital future we need the full commitment of Member States, the ICT sector and other vital economic players.’

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