EU Consults Consumers on Internet Platforms to Help Shape New Rules
24 Septiembre 2015 - 11:49AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Natalia Drozdiak
BRUSSELS--The European Union on Thursday invited public
complaints about the behavior in Europe of Internet platforms, most
of which are large U.S. technology firms, to help it shape
potential new rules it may introduce next year.
In the consultation aimed at consumers and companies that will
run until late December, the European Commission--the bloc's
executive arm--is seeking insight into concerns about how platforms
control data, their pricing policies and market power.
"While their emergence has been generally seen as beneficial,
the way that online platforms operate raises issues that require
further exploration," the European Commission said in its
statement.
The EU outlined plans in May to review the role of online
platforms and geo-blocking as part of an effort to bridge together
Europe's splintered digital market, sparking concerns among large
American tech companies.
In the introduction to the questionnaire published Thursday, the
commission cites mainly U.S. tech firms, such as Google., Yelp
Inc., Amazon.com Inc., eBay, Uber Technologies Inc., Facebook Inc.,
and Netflix, as examples of Web platforms. It also includes a few
European companies, such as France's ride-hailing company Blablacar
and shopping site Twenga, as well as Allegro Group, a Poland-based
online auction website.
The questionnaire asks consumers and companies whether they have
faced problems dealing with online platforms and whether those
problems should be addressed with new rules or left to be dealt
with by market forces. The EU also asks whether platforms provide
sufficient information about what they do with the users' data they
collect.
Respondents are asked whether Internet platforms apply "terms
and conditions, which I find unbalanced and do not have the
possibility to negotiate" and whether they refuse "access to its
services unless specific restrictions are accepted."
The exercise is aimed at gathering more information to decide
whether it would be necessary to roll out new rules for Internet
platforms in Europe. But in a recent interview with The Wall Street
Journal, the EU's digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger said it
was "of course clear" that Europe needs rules to regulate Internet
platforms because the market is growing fast and the services are
entering into all other industry sectors.
James Waterworth, a Brussels-based vice president for the
Computer & Communications Industry Association, a lobby group
for U.S. Internet companies including Google and Facebook, said it
wasn't clear what problems Internet Platforms pose.
"Now that it is beginning this assessment, [the commission] will
need to think carefully about the implications for the economy as a
whole, particularly European innovators that grow companies here,"
he added.
The commission also launched a separate questionnaire to gather
more information on so-called geo-blocking, a practice by firms to
discriminate via price or the range of goods it offers based on the
customer's location.
That form asks customers and companies whether they have been a
victim of, or have had to impose geo-blocking rules, when buying or
selling goods online. It asks what impact it would have on
businesses if rules were imposed to end the practice.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 24, 2015 12:34 ET (16:34 GMT)
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