the commission is fully aware of the difficulties faced by consumers who are denied access to web sites or are discriminated against on a geographical basis when seeking to make on-line purchases
let me assure you that combating geographical market segmentation be it the result of state measures or the behaviour of private parties is a high priority for our policy in the internal market
practices such as those mentioned by the honourable member in her question deprive european citizens of the rights and opportunities offered to them by the single market
they are completely at odds with the freedom to receive services across borders which is a fundamental counterpart of the freedom to provide services enshrined in the eec treaty
with the services directive we now have a powerful tool to substantially ease problems faced by consumers who face discrimination when they purchase goods and services across borders including over the internet
for the first time in the internal market legislation the services directive explicitly requires member states to put a stop to discriminatory practices carried out by businesses on the basis of the nationality or the place of residence of consumers
as you know the services directive has to be implemented by the end of december this year and once the non-discrimination clause laid down in article twenty has been reflected in national legislation practices such as those mentioned by the honourable member in her question will be unlawful
the only exception to this rule will be those cases where businesses can demonstrate that the different treatment applied to different categories of consumers is directly justified by objective reasons and therefore does not constitute discrimination
the commission is currently working with member states to make sure that article twenty of the services directive is implemented on time and is effectively enforced by national authorities and the courts
in addition the commission published a report focusing on the cross-border aspects of e-commerce on five march
this staff working document on cross-border e-commerce is an initiative by my colleague commissioner meglena kuneva
the report shows that overall e-commerce is developing rather well in the european union while cross-border e-commerce lags behind
there exists a strong potential for cross-border trade in on-line commerce
however this potential cross-border trade is failing to materialise in the face of practical and regulatory obstacles that effect both consumers and businesses
the result is a fragmented on-line internal market
this has been identified and is being addressed by the market monitoring exercise the commission has launched to examine the number of supply chains for particular retail markets
this work should allow the commission to deepen its analysis of the retail sector in order to identify practices that distort relationships between suppliers and retailers and between retailers and consumers and assess the necessity of further reforms of the relevant national or eu regulations
this exercise covers five specific sectors including recreational goods such as music and books sold on-line and off-line and will lead to a commission communication foreseen for autumn two thousand and nine
the effective and forceful implementation of article twenty of the services directive together with the examination of further remaining issues in the context of the market monitoring exercise should provide us with a comprehensive response to the problems or barriers emerging in the e-commerce context to the detriment of recipients of services in general and consumers in particular
