Action plan for doubling the volume of e-commerce in Europe by 2015

The Commission has adopted a Communication presenting 16 targeted initiatives aiming to boost e-commerce from its current levels of 3.4% of total retail sales  to 7% by 2015.
The plan places emphasis on strengthening a single harmonized framework for e-commerce and other commercial online services and proposes an action plan to remove  five main obstacles to the Digital Single Market:

- the supply of legal, cross-border online services is still inadequate;
- there is not enough information for online service operators or protection for internet users;
- payment and delivery systems are still inadequate;
- there are too many cases of abuse and disputes that are difficult to settle;
- insufficient use is made of high-speed communication networks and hi-tech solutions.

The communication was adopted the 11 of January together with the Green Paper on Card, Internet, and Mobile payments.

More information
Download the communication

'sluggish' Growth in cross-border e-commerce across the European Union

The latest European Commission consumer survey reveals that E-commerce growth 'sluggish' across the European Union and indicates that much remains to be done if the bloc is to meet targets for 2020.

36% of EU consumers shopped online from national sellers in 2010 compared to 34% in 2009, found the 5th edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard. However cross-border e-commerce grew only slowly, rising one percentage point to 9% last year compared to 8% in 2009.

The EU has set itself the target of raising the proportion of EU consumers who shop online across borders to 20% by 2020, as pointed in the "Digital Agenda".

More information
Download the 5th edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard