Producers and Consumers in EU E-Commerce Law

Rapid growth of technology in the last decades has given rise to electronic commerce (e-commerce) as a new mode of commerce. This new commerce environment has many characteristics that affect commercial relationships and parties. Of these characteristics, global and borderless commercial activity and the intangible nature of communication can be singled out. From a legal perspective, e-commerce has developed new modes, of contract formation, performance of contracts for intangible goods, as well as payment. In this new borderless and transient sphere, certain interests of parties involved in commercial activities as buyers or sellers are in need of protection. In particular, consumer protection in e-commerce has attracted much attention in this context. Indeed, certain aspects of e-commerce need to be evaluated with respect to consumer interests in the framework of fair trade, privacy, secure payment mechanisms, morality, and so forth