ITPRO

Printed from www.itpro.co.uk

Register to receive our regular email newsletter at http://www.itpro.co.uk/reg/register.

The newsletter contains links to our latest IT news, product reviews, features and how-to guides, plus special offers and competitions.

Skip to navigation

    Mick Jagger rocks EU e-commerce debate

Sir Mick was in Brussels this week to contribute to an EU forum reporting on regional regulatory e-commerce trade reforms.

By Miya Knights, 19 Sep 2008 at 14:58

Sir Mick Jagger joined consumer and IT industry experts earlier this week in Brussels to draw up a report on e-commerce trade barriers for the European Commission (EC).

The trained accountant and Rolling Stone frontman had been invited to an ‘online commerce roundtable’ by European Union (EU) competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to give his views on the copyright issues faced by the music industry in relation to CD sales and illegal downloads.

The EU announcement on the roundtable and report pointed to commission competition cases, including last year’s iTunes case, where users in one country were buying music from comparatively cheaper sites in other countries.

It said: “[Such cases] have cast doubt on whether the opportunities provided by the internet are being fulfilled or are hindered by barriers created in the offline world without consideration of their online effects.”

Kroes added: “The people of Europe were promised a union, a place without borders: but on the internet they have not yet got it. Progress has been made; sometimes impressive, but it is not enough. As Competition Commissioner, I want to know why. If this is because the competition rules are not clear enough, I will clarify them. If it is because the competition rules are not up to date, I will update them.”

The report will deliver recommendations to eliminate frustrations when buying online, including consumer guarantees, as well as delivery and after-sales fulfilment and encourage the growth of cross-border trade.

The rock star joined eight fellow roundtable members, including Apple boss Steve Jobs, head of EMI Roger Faxon and Fiat chief executive John Elkann for the first in a series of debates.

The commission said the group’s findings would be published in a short report before the end of this year. Then “interested parties” will be invited to submit their responses by mid-October of next year before any regulatory proposals are drawn up.

Email to a friend

Print this page

< Previous   Networking : News Next >

1 comments

You need to Login or Register to comment.

Trained Accountant?

Are you sure? I think not...

By NicholasCullum on Tuesday Sep 23

0 people out of 0 found this comment useful.

Did you find it useful?

    You may also like...

 Sponsored Links

advertisement

    You may also like...

advertisement

    Register for IT PRO

You'll get exclusive member benefits including free whitepapers, downloads, Webinars and weekly newsletters full of the latest IT PRO news, reviews, insight and expertise.

Sponsored Links
Advertisement