Non-implementation of E-commerce Directive leads to threat of legal action

Austria, Germany and Luxembourg are the only countries to have properly implemented the Directive in their domestic laws.

The Commission has received draft laws from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France and Spain. However, the UK and Portugal are lagging behind and have not even drafted legislation to implement the Directive, which seeks to harmonise rules on e-commerce throughout the EU.

In the UK, the closing date for a consultation process currently taking place is 8th February 2002. It is expected that draft regulations will be published in the next few weeks and implementation is expected by the Summer of this year.