EU – Baltic States, Forum, Internet, Legislation, Technology

Digital technology has become a part of everyday life: from studying to watching films, buying or selling online to connecting with friends; in short, the internet is a goldmine of digital opportunities. But people in the EU people and companies run into many barriers – from geo-blocking or cross-border parcel delivery inefficiencies to unconnected e-services.

Digital services too often remain confined to national borders. The Commission has made it a priority to remove these obstacles and create a Digital Single Market: making the EU's single market freedoms "go digital", and boosting growth and jobs on our continent.

First discussion

The College of Commissioners has had a first discussion on the Digital Single Market Strategy on 25 March 2015 and set out the main areas the Commission will focus its work on to trigger real changes for consumers and businesses alike.

Present discussions set out the priority areas for action to focus work on when preparing the comprehensive Digital Single Market Strategy to be unveiled in May 2015.

Opening the discussion, Commission Vice-President responsible for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip underlined that there are presently numerous barriers on the way to create a true digital single market in the EU. The idea is that people must be able to freely go across borders online just as they do offline. He argued that innovative businesses must be helped to grow across the EU, not remain locked into their home market.

He concluded that the EU should benefit fully from the digital age with better services, more participation and new jobs.

Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther H. Oettinger stressed that the EU’s “digital revolution” could not take place with a patchwork of 28 different rules for telecommunications services, copyright, IT security and data protection.

He argued that the EU needs a digital market, which allows new business models to flourish, start-ups to grow and the industry to take advantage of the internet. Besides, he added, that people would like “to invest” in their IT-skills in their job or during their leisure time.  

Present orientation debate has set out three main areas on which Commission action will focus during this mandate:

1. Better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services

- Facilitating cross-border e-commerce, especially for SMEs, with harmonised consumer and contract rules and with more efficient and affordable parcel delivery. Today only 15% of consumers shop online from another EU country; the reason is that online delivery is higher than the actual price of the product.

- Tackling geo-blocking: too many Europeans cannot use online services that are available in other EU countries, often without any justification; often they are re-routed to a local store with different prices. Such discrimination is unacceptable in the EU Single Market.

- Modernising copyright law to ensure the right balance between the interests of creators and those of users or consumers. It will improve people's access to culture – and therefore support cultural diversity – while opening new opportunities for artists and content creators and ensuring a better enforcement of rights.

- Simplifying VAT arrangements is important to boost the cross-border activities of businesses, especially SMEs. The cost and complexity of having to deal with foreign tax rules are a major problem for SMEs. The VAT-related costs due to different requirements are estimated at € 80 billion.

Main contributors to the theme’s discussion:

Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market; Günther Oettinger, Digital Economy & Society; Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs; Věra Jourová, Justice, Consumers & Gender Equality; Tibor Navracsics, Education, Culture, Youth & Sport; Carlos Moedas, Research, Science and Innovation; Pierre Moscovici, Economic & Financial Affairs, Taxation & Customs; Margrethe Vestager, Competition

2. Shaping the environment for digital networks and services to flourish

- All digital services, applications and content depend on high-speed internet and secure networks: the lifeblood of new, innovative digital services. To encourage investment in infrastructure, the Commission will therefore review the current telecoms and media rules to make them fit for new challenges, in particular relating to consumer uses (for example the increasing number of voice calls made over the internet) and new players in the field.

- Spectrum is the air the internet breathes: hence improving coordination among EU states is essential. Europe has witnessed significant delays in the roll-out of the latest 4G technology, as suitable spectrum was not available. Spectrum does not stop at national borders: a European approach to its management is needed to promote a genuine single market with pan-European services.

- The Commission will look into the growing importance of online platforms (search engines, social media, app stores, etc.) for a thriving internet-enabled economy. This includes looking at how to strengthen trust in online services through more transparency, how to include them in the online value chain, and to facilitate the swift removal of illegal content.

- Today, 72% of internet users in Europe are concerned about using online services because they worry that they have to reveal too much personal data online. The swift adoption of the Data Protection Regulation is a key to boosting trust.

Main contributors to the theme’s discussion: Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market; Günther Oettinger, Digital Economy & Society; Margrethe Vestager, Competition; Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs; Věra Jourová, Justice, Consumers & Gender Equality; Pierre Moscovici, Economic & Financial Affairs, Taxation & Customs; Phil Hogan, Agriculture & Rural Development; Corina Crețu, Regional Policy.  

3. Creating a European Digital Economy and Society with long-term growth potential

- Industry is a key pillar of the European economy: the EU manufacturing sector accounts for 2 million companies and 33 million jobs. The Commission wants to help all industrial sectors integrate new technologies and manage the transition to a smart industrial system ("Industry 4.0").

- Standards: ensuring interoperability for new technologies is essential for Europe's competitiveness; they must be developed faster.

- The Commission also wants industry and society to make the most out of the data economy. Large amounts of data are produced every second, created by persons or generated by machines, such as sensors gathering climate information, satellite imagery, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records, or GPS signals. Big data is a goldmine, but it also raises important challenges, from ownership to data protection to standards. These need to be addressed to unlock its potential.

- The same goes for cloud computing, the use of which is rapidly growing: the proportion of digital data stored in the cloud is projected to rise from 20% in 2013 to 40% in 2020. While shared networks and resources can boost the EU economy, they also need the right framework to flourish and be used by more people, companies, organisations and public services across Europe.

- Europeans should also be able to fully benefit from interoperable e-services, from e-government to e-health, and develop their digital skills to seize the opportunities of the internet and boost their chances of getting a job.

Main contributors to the theme’s discussion: Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market; Günther Oettinger, Digital Economy & Society; Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs; Věra Jourová, Justice, Consumers & Gender Equality; Vytenis Andriukaitis, Health & Food Safety; Marianne Thyssen, Employment, Social Affairs, Skills & Labour Mobility; Violeta Bulc, Transport; Carlos Moedas, Research, Science & Innovation.

More information on:

= How digital is your country? New figures reveal progress needed towards a digital Europe;

= Webpage of Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip (@Ansip_EU);

= Webpage of Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther H. Oettinger (@GOettingerEU);

= Website of the Digital Agenda for Europe;

= President Juncker’s political guidelines;

= The Commission Work Program 2015