EC wants universal web trading law.

A draft EC directive issued last week lays down a common set of rules which all European countries will have to implement as local laws. At present, there is confusion over whether sales made over the Internet are subject to the laws of the country where the buyer lives, or the country from which the web seller operates. The directive intends to harmonise those laws across Europe.

In October, a top Brussels bureaucrat took the extraordinary step of urging business to protest against a proposed amendment to EC ecommerce regulations. The amendment sought to make ecommerce merchants subject to the consumer laws of all states in which they trade, rather than just the state in which they are based.

Jean Bergevin, lead economist in the EC's media, commercial, communications and unfair competition unit, said that would stifle ecommerce in Europe, if enacted.

Bergevin and a strident protest lobby led by a London law firm claimed that the proposal would halt the growth of the electronic economy in Europe, by making it too complex and risky for smaller companies to trade online. The proposed EC directive concerns advertising, direct marketing and contractual issues, including the liability of intermediaries.