5 7 July 2003

News:

The Recording Industry Association of America is taking its campaign against P2P file sharers directly to the individuals who are offering tracks to share.

EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, who is responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, underlined at a July 15 press conference in Brussels, the European Union’s determination to combat the growth of spam with international action as well as the implementation of the European Directive on Data Privacy in eCommunications.

The Communications Act which is designed to revamp the regulatory framework for the Communications industry and introduce greater flexibility to the market finally received Royal Assent and became law on 17 July.

Features:

Email has moved from being a useful communications tool to an integral and essential part of the infrastructure for the efficient running of businesses around the world.

VAT on eCommerce Directive

Proposal for a Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices

Communications Bill

Telecommunications package

Employment Practices Data Protection Code

Economic co-operation

Television without frontiers

Spam inquiry

Dates for your diary

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the “Act”) makes it unlawful for disabled people to be treated less favourably for a reason related to their disability. Part III of the Act comes into force on 1 October 2004 and extends the anti-discrimination obligations to all service providers. This article looks at the impact of this legislation on website operators.

The long awaited HM Customs and Excise guidance on “Electronically supplied services - Special Scheme for non-EU businesses” has arrived. The Special Scheme is being introduced alongside the changes to the VAT place of supply rules for electronically supplied services. These changes, set out in detail in e-commercelaw&policy, Volume 4, Issue 10, mean that digital products supplied by non-EU businesses to EU consumers, will from 1 July 2003 be subject to VAT in the EU member state where the customer belongs.

Online dispute resolution (ODR) has been on offer from a number of websites in recent years, many of which have been unsuccessful because they offer solutions to only some of the problems that are inseparable from ODR. Sites that cater specifically for automated negotiation - a kind of computer assisted confidential settlement process - do not allow for more complicated disputes where neither party is willing to settle. Nor do online mediation sites, while certainly useful, necessarily provide a final and enforceable solution for parties to a dispute.

The global nature of the online betting industry means that it may not be easy to determine precisely where an online bet is struck. Online commercial transactions do not merely cross international frontiers - they ignore them. The issue is clearly of significance to the parties to the bet since in the absence of some specific agreement stipulating which system of law is to govern their legal relationship, the law of the place where the agreement is formed may be deemed to be that with which the transaction has its closest connection. It may also have public law significance, affecting both the regulatory and fiscal treatment of the transaction.

Current estimates value the premium rate services (PRS) industry in the UK at over £2 billion. Often considered previously to be the preserve of pornography and adult chat lines, PRS are now proving to be a valuable source of revenue for a range of mainstream companies not least in the mobile sector. But as everyone from Big Brother onwards gets in on the act the regulatory framework is keeping up with developments.

The Indian government has recently announced the imminent adoption of data protection legislation to turn its prolific data processing centres into safe recipients of personal data in accordance with EU laws. Until that happens, how can EU businesses overcome the legal restrictions?