European E-Commerce Markets: Competition Initiatives For 2018

Summary

As part of the EU's Digital Single Market initiative, the European Commission has been working to identify potential competition concerns affecting European e-commerce markets. The Commission suspects that companies have created artificial barriers to trade which impede the development of the e-commerce industry in Europe. Accordingly, the Commission is increasingly focused on rectifying competitive restraints in the European e-commerce markets.

Background

European e-commerce markets have benefited from years of constant growth. The percentage of people shopping online increased from 30% in 2007 to 55% in 2016. Ensuring better access for consumers and businesses to e-commerce marketplaces for goods and services across the EU is therefore an important pillar of the European Commission's initiative to create the Digital Single Market ("DSM"). Our previous alerts on the DSM explored the 2018 work programme of the EU and the impact of 2018 European