Europese Commissie neemt voorstel 'Blauwe knoop' aan voor facilitering e-commerce (en)
The EC adopts a proposal of the Polish Presidency of optional unified EU-wide legal regime - the so-called "blue button".
The European Commission proposed an adoption of the blue button - a proposal to establish a 28th legal regime of European contract law, in addition to the 27 Member States’ regimes, which would be a system of codified provisions in force in the European Union facilitating e-commerce. The help concerns mainly cross-border transactions.
The Polish Presidency is convinced that the creation of this new solution is not only beneficial for hundreds of millions of European consumers, but also crucial for the further development of the EU market for e-commerce.
In practice, this alternative formula for transactions online could function by clicking an icon on the website, which would be in the form of a blue button (hence the name ‘blue button’). Using this option, the parties to a transaction would voluntarily agree to the transaction being based on the principles of European contract law and thus subject to the jurisdiction of those rules for resolving any disputes. Blue button does not preclude the application of national rules; it is rather an optional solution.
European Commission surveys suggest that as many as 70% of enterprises using the Internet to enter into buy or sell transactions declare that they will want to take advantage of European contract law. In addition, 44 % of consumers resign from cross-border transactions online as they fear the consequences of ignorance of the legal rules of another state. The Commission estimates that because of that the European economy loses EUR 26 billion a year.
In Poland, the barriers to doing business online are particularly visible. Hence the creation of a European contract law regime, which is a particularly strong part of the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council.
Now 28th legal regime must be approved by EU Member States and the European Parliament, which has already indicated its full support for this initiative in the vote held in the middle of this year.