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ARTICLE · 03 DECEMBER 2015

EU's E-Commerce Inquiry: More Requests For Information

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In May of this year, the EU's Competition Commissioner, Margarethe Vestager, announced that there would be a major competition inquiry into the e-commerce sector in Europe.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
John Cassels
John Cassels
Jessica Burns
Jessica Burns

In May of this year, the EU's Competition Commissioner, Margarethe Vestager, announced that there would be a major competition inquiry into the e-commerce sector in Europe.  That announcement prefaced a very significant information gathering exercise and sure enough, over this last week, the latest round of questionnaires have been sent to suppliers of branded goods across a range of sectors and product types.

The purpose of the inquiry is to help the Commission to understand and tackle barriers to cross-border e-commerce.  Currently, only 15% of consumers purchase online from a seller based in another EU Member State and the Commission considers that to be a problem.  The inquiry will be relevant to every business that sells or facilitates the sale of goods or services online in the EU.

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