Two new directives are scheduled to be debated in the European Parliament on May 6 and 7, according to Alastair Tempest, director general of Fedma public affairs and self-regulation, during a press conference Monday at the Federation of European Direct Marketing’s annual forum in Strasbourg, France, just down the road from where the parliament will meet.
The measures concern e-commerce and distance selling of financial services. Tempest said that the directives are “not desperately bad” but that there are provisions the group would seek to change. The Internet directive is complex, especially in regard to liability for Web sites, he added.
The greatest worry, according to Tempest, is that debate on the directives will be put off for a long time because a new European Parliament will be elected in June, and won’t really start working until September.
Tempest also commented on how the recent scandal in the European Commission–all its members will step down in a week–has affected Fedma’s lobbying. The group was expecting a new directive on postal services, which would start the liberalization of direct mail, but that is on hold now because the commission can make no decisions.
Fedma had lobbied for grants for education and e-commerce initiatives, which seem unlikely to come about any time soon, given that the scandal was over the abuse of bestowing grants, and officials are afraid to give any now.
This is especially unfortunate in respect to e-commerce, Tempest said, because Fedma wants to promote a Europe-wide system of using a “seal of approval” for Web sites–before each country does its own and a myriad of seals results.
Network
