Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
eBay Launches “Call for Action” Campaign in Europe
eBay launched a long-term Call for Action campaign in Brussells yesterday, aimed at reforming the current European Union (EU) Competition, Consumer and Trademark Law. The launch meeting called on the EU to modernize competition, consumer and trademark law in order to address what it labeled “digital protectionism.”
The key speakers at the event (in the photo above and from left to right) included:
- Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services
- Edit Herczog, Member of the European Parliament (MEP)
- Doug McCallum, Senior Vice President, eBay Marketplaces, Europe
- Arlene McCarthy, MEP
- Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Policy
- Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, MEP
Speaking at the event, Doug McCallum asserted the following:
We need to end the climate of legal uncertainty for EU customers, SME sellers and intermediaries which mean that:
1. EU consumers are denied the full benefits of price competition and choice;
2. EU consumer confidence in Internet-based markets is unnecessarily undermined; and
3. EU consumers and vendors using the Internet receive discriminatory treatment.
The Call for Action is in 5 specific areas:
1. Clarify EU competition rules to prohibit undue restrictions on buying and selling online.
2. Stop certain trademark owners from artificially segmenting the global market through restrictions on parallel imports.
3. Launch a review of the EU digital environment to see how best to harness its potential for the benefit of consumers.
4. Create a single set of EU consumer rules to make cross-border trade easier, cheaper and less burdensome for businesses.
5. Ensure proper and full implementation of the EU Services Directive.
“As it stands, the uncertainty around EU rules on vertical restraints allows too much wiggle room for certain manufacturers to restrict online buying and selling,” said Doug McCallum. “We believe this can be used to control or unduly influence the market.”
Preliminary results of a third-party study undertaken by Frontier Economics show that eBay buyers in the UK, Germany and France can obtain savings of around 17% on average in 12 key categories of products. By purchasing new products on eBay, the combined consumer savings in the UK, Germany and France are around €980 million per annum. These figures imply that across all eBay’s European operations, buyers on eBay in the EEA make savings totalling around €1.1 billion per annum.
“We need to ensure that the digital environment is one where consumers thrive. Let me be clear, there is no place in Europe’s Single Market for artificial geographical restrictions which hold consumers back within national borders,” said Meglena Kuneva, European Consumer Protection Commissioner. “I believe the time has come to look closely at the legitimacy of market partitioning along national boundaries, notably in online retail. We must act now to give our citizens the future market place they deserve.”
Given that the Call for Action is aimed at fixing a “patchwork of 27 different consumer protection regimes” it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming months.
Please email ebayink@ebay.com if interested in reading the full report.
Cheers,
RBH
Tagged: callforaction, ebay, ebayeurope, ebaymarketplaces, ecommerce, eu, europeanunion, trademark law, trustandsafety
GailOn 06.26.2008 at 9:28 am Said:
Richard, PLEASE remove that scribd thing from post at the top. It’s hanging up my computer. I come here to read, not to look at dumb eBay advertisements! Okay, maybe it’s not an ad, but it’s still hanging the page. Thank you!
DaveyOn 06.26.2008 at 10:56 am Said:
Hey Hani,
Looks like you picked a great time to move on professionally. I’d love to hear what things were really like on the inside, as of course, to those of us on the outside, we hear lots of doublespeak, reversals, and chaos. I understand you probably have non-disclosure agreements in force, but it would be interesting for us to hear what the culture itself was like.
I happen to agree with you and eBay on most of what they are pursuing here, as it will assist me as an international seller based in the States. I find lots of hypocrisy evident in the fact that eBay is pursuing removal of European marketplace hurdles while at the same time in different markets they are trying to make Paypal exclusive. If I were a European regulator watching the Australian show, I’d lean towards keeping strong regulation, knowing that eBay is plenty willing to limit consumer choice when it is in eBay’s best interest.
DaveyOn 06.26.2008 at 11:16 am Said:
Richard, I’m having problems with this page loading too, like several others. I’m using IE7…
HMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOn 06.26.2008 at 12:46 pm Said:
“Full disclosure here — I’m the former Director of Corporate Communications for eBay Inc., until this past February (I’m no longer at eBay). So obviously, I have a certain point of view. BUT, I STILL CARE WHAT’S GOING ON OVER THERE.”
certain points of view………I am certain.
Patricia1On 06.26.2008 at 7:43 pm Said:
IE 7 was the worst upgrade I ever did. Its crankier than an old man full of aches and pains 
Patricia1On 06.26.2008 at 7:48 pm Said:
“eBay doesn’t make a dime if people like you don’t buy and sell on the site. Interests are aligned.”
Sorry but lately that just doesn’t wash. I have no idea what Ebay’s future plans are but its all too evident that they don’t care if it includes us or not!
“A fake purse, (sorry Patricia) fake painting, clothing …. though these are terrible in that they rob people of money- the cosmetics are a danger to the health of the member and should be the highest priority in combating counterfeit products in my opinion.”
Curious…Are these not under the jurisdiction of the FDA? If so, why aren’t they contacted about the fake products being sold?
MechelleOn 06.26.2008 at 8:14 pm Said:
never thought about that I guess I could try that, but theses are international thieves so I don’t know if they have any jurisdiction???
Patricia1On 06.26.2008 at 10:03 pm Said:
Mechelle - if they’re selling the cosmetics here in the US maybe they or some other government dept has jurisdiction over them.
MistyOn 06.26.2008 at 11:03 pm Said:
First I want to say I agree that the sale of cosmetics or items that can cause health and physical harm should be banned from any online site, to not do so leaves the site open and liable to legal ramifications along with the seller who was selling the items.
As for the sale of counterfeits, reproductions etc. this has been a problem for years and when it is grossly obvious that a seller is purposely selling these items and are reported they should be removed and some sort of restriction placed on that seller, to not do so in the long run costs the community and corporation much more than is gained by ignoring the problem.
Further more in the line of the arts including arts such as art glass and art pottery etc. this has been a problem from the very beginning of time almost and is something everyone including the buyers should accept a certain amount of accountability of by knowing and learning about the art they are considering purchasing, selling or allowing to be listed.
Every guide I have ever owned has had a reproduction section to learn from (no one can ever know it all) however I have met a few who claim to know it all 
This is were we all need to work together as a community and eBay being a part of this community needs to take these reports more seriously simply because it is lowering their reputation as well as the sellers not to.
The end result of working together will bring a higher quality and reputation there for higher prices and more traffic.
It simply can not be done with bots or programs and achieve the same high reputation and quality.
Patricia1On 06.27.2008 at 10:24 am Said:
“Further more in the line of the arts including arts such as art glass and art pottery etc. this has been a problem from the very beginning of time almost and is something everyone including the buyers should accept a certain amount of accountability of by knowing and learning about the art they are considering purchasing, selling or allowing to be listed.”
Do you know how galling it is to see a “Picasso” probably drawn by some 4 year old on paper yellowed with tea that is probably selling for several thousand and has umpteen bidders on it? You know its fake - in fact in some cases you can cite which museum the original is hanging in - yet you report it and nothing is done. Some fool has lost a couple thousand on an outright fake - AND will discover it and never come back to Ebay. Perhaps that money could have been spent on some of the legitimate up and coming artists on the site. That’s what made me finally drop out of Arts Community Watch. It was all so senseless and a complete waste of my time. I haven’t looked lately but the bit of advertising on the art site portal used to highlight the offerings of Picasso, Dali, Rembrandt, etc!
MechelleOn 06.27.2008 at 10:54 am Said:
Exactly Patricia the likelihood of those victims returning to eBay is very low! Considering retention is supposed to be eBay’s main focus, and the reason for their harassing sellers over the cost of shipping you would think they would consider the reality that someone is much more likely to avoid eBay after being scammed by frauds than they would because they paid a couple dollars over postage costs. Give me a break that is beyond absurd.
@Misty
If your intent is to agree with me you have misunderstood my position. I don’t have an issue with the sell of cosmetics- though I acknowledge you do- I have a problem with the sell of fake cosmetics.
I have just reported about 40 listings of fake mac- they are all in my watch list so I will let everyone know how/if eBay deals with this criminal behavior.
MistyOn 06.27.2008 at 12:00 pm Said:
@ Patricia & Mechelle
That was exactly what I was trying to imply… Mechelle I personally don’t use much make up so I do not keep up on the name brands etc. but I do believe my point about those items which contain harmful ingredients would in fact more likely than not be fake… true?
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