EU4Digital report: latest EU eCommerce updates, trends and cooperation opportunities
Date: 06/09/23
EU4Digital Facility has published an updated report on the EU baseline for eCommerce in the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The report provides an overview of cross-border eCommerce in the European Union and EU best practices and norms as a benchmark for assessing the Eastern partner countries’ cross-border eCommerce. The report analyses three key areas – legal framework, standards and the eCommerce ecosystem.
The report was produced within the EU4Digital eTrade thematic area’s eCommerce accelerator activities. These activities aim to harmonise cross-border eCommerce between the Eastern partner countries and the EU. The updated EU eCommerce baseline report identifies key aspects that are important for cross-border eCommerce harmonisation:
In the legislation area: consumer and data protection, parcel delivery, Universal Postal Union (UPU) obligations, security of networks and information systems, geo-blocking, liability of online intermediaries and other areas.
In the standards area: development of European standards, provided by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), quality of services, interoperability, electronic advanced data and digital customs pre-declarations on items. The report also covers key aspects of interoperability between CEN and UPU standards.
In the eCommerceecosystem area: cross-border supply chain, eCommerce marketplaces, taxation, payments, logistics.
The updated EU baseline report also includes an overview of the following new developments:
Digital Service Act – applies to online platforms from June 2023. It includes legal requirements regarding detecting and removing illegal content online as well as obligations around transparency, reporting and – for business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C) marketplaces – enforcement.
Digital Markets Act – applicable from May 2023. It establishes objective criteria for identifying large online platforms that reach more than 10% of the EU’s population, operating in the European Union.
Standard data protection clauses / Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) – these were presented by the European Commission and modernised under the General Data Protection Regulation to ensure the protection of data transfers outside of the European Union/European economic area.
Sustainability requirements for sustainable consumption choices – these are considered in the report as the European Union implemented measures to account, allocate and report end-to-end carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions and consignment levels.
UPU changes based on stakeholder and information exchanges on the UPU Global Postal Model.
New Digital Marketing aspects – these highlight the importance of an effective digital marketing strategy in the eCommerce ecosystem, which has become essential for eCommerce businesses to succeed.
Awareness and next steps
In line with the EU eCommerce baseline report updates, the EU4Digital Facility hosted an online event in June 2023 to raise awareness of the topics and changes. In this event, meaningful insights into the evolving landscape of cross-border eCommerce were provided and collaboration opportunities with eCommerce Europe network were explored.
Overall, EU4Digital’s updated EU eCommerce baseline report provides an insightful overview of important changes and challenges regarding the analysis, assessment and development of cross-border eCommerce Eastern partner countries. Recommendations are now being prepared for each country according to their current eCommerce status and the updated report.
We use cookies on this site to improve your website experience, to enhance site navigation and analyse site usage. By clicking “Accept all cookies” you consent to our use of cookies.
You can find out more about which cookies we are using or adjust your cookie settings in the Cookies policy.
Functionality Cookies
Functionality cookies, which are essential to the functioning of the website. These cookies also which help us measure the website’s performance and improve your experience, as well as remembering any settings you might have selected.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
Advertising/targeting cookies
Advertising/targeting cookies, which we use to track user activity and sessions so that we can deliver a more personalized service, and (in the case of advertising cookies) which are set by the third parties with whom we execute advertising campaigns and allow us to provide advertisements relevant to you. These are optional cookies and users can choose to opt out at any moment.