DG GROW
Meeting between Commissioner BIEŃKOWSKA with Mr.
VP, Amazon EU Retail
Brussels, 13 October 2016, 15h00
Name of Cabinet Member: Fabrice Comptour
Name of the Director who has cleared the briefing: Hubert GAMBS
BASIS request ID: CAB 459
Room, time:
Name of main contact person:
Telephone number:
Directorate/Unit: E/3
BRIEFING NOTE: Amazon and EU Regulation of e-Commerce and
Entrepreneurship support
Scene setter/Context of the meeting: You wil meet Mr.
who is vice-president at Amazon
and responsible for Amazon's retail business in EU. The meeting is
expected to concern DSM (geoblocking, Parcel delivery & Platforms),
E-Commerce (Counterfeit MoU/IPRED, Product safety & payment
Issues) and Start-ups/Scale-ups. The focus of the meeting is expected
to be on the E-commerce topics in particular.
Within the DSM initiative, the Commission has adopted or wil adopt
regulatory proposals affecting e-Commerce. Amazon is expected to
support Commission's proposals to regulate E-Commerce on
geoblocking, Parcel delivery and Online Platforms and wil present its
views about proposed or future regulation on IPR Enforcement,
Product Safety and Online payments.
In IPR enforcement, the role of online intermediaries is one of the
main issues to be analysed in the IPRED REFIT analysis and possible
review. Amazon replied to the public consultation on the IPR
enforcement framework, that IPRED achieved its objectives and there
is no need to review it. Please note that in the Platform
Communication, the Commission announced that it wil not touch the
e-Commerce Directive, which regulates platform liability.
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On payments, Amazon wishes to discuss its concerns about the draft
Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) prepared by the European
Banking Authority (EBA) on "Strong customer authentication and
secure communication (SCA-SC)", on the basis of the mandate given
in the new Payment Services Directive (2015/2366/EU), presently
subject to a public consultation. The payments file is in the portfolio
of Vice-President Dombrovskis. The issue at stake is technical and
highly sensitive politically; DG FISMA advises prudence and
circumspection.
Amazon will present its entrepreneurship support activities (Market
Place and "Launch Pad" programme) and would like to explore
possible cooperation with the Commission Start-up initiative (DG
GROW).
Objective of the meeting: Exchange of views including to inform about the outcomes of the
public consultation and indicate possible directions in the European
start-up and scale-up policy.
Find out in more detail Amazon's start-ups support strategy and view
so far on their partnering up with start-ups in Europe as wel as our
entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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MAIN KEY messages
• Companies may tailor their offers to the markets they target
but have to treat customers from another Member State as
they treat local customers, not better, nor worse.
• Too many non-compliant products are placed onto the Single
Market, including through online sales and via imports from
non-member countries.
• We are faced with a very difficult and complex reality, where
commercial scale IPR infringement activities have become more
frequent and therefore very harmful to the EU economy.
• We are currently evaluating the overal functioning of the
current legal framework of IPR enforcement.
• Payment in E-commerce is in the portfolio of Vice-President
Dombrovskis and DG FISMA.
KEY messages
Geo-blocking
• Unless it can be justified, companies should no longer
discriminate their customers according to their place of
residence or place of establishment. Customers from abroad
should be treated in the same way as local customers.
• The proposal ful y respects the freedom of enterprises to adapt
their general conditions of access, including prices, to the
markets they target. The regulation al ows for seasonal sales or
special promotions as wel and does not oblige companies to
deliver or to provide cross-border after-sale services.
• To increase transparency, the proposal bans blocking access to
websites and automatic re-routing. Traders are free to choose
the technological means to implement these rules.
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Cross-border parcel delivery
• Improving cross-border parcel delivery services is a high priority
for the Commission, as a step towards completing the digital
single market. The Commission wants to see rapid and tangible
progress to improve the quality of service and affordability.
• The Commission welcomes innovation and competition in the
parcel sector that brings consumers choice and better quality
delivery services. Our proposal for a regulation on cross-border
parcel delivery aims to encourage choice and competition.
• Now that it's not only national postal operators that delivery
parcels to consumers, regulators need to know which
companies are active on parcel markets. The proposal for a
regulation on cross-border parcel delivery has been designed to
minimise the administrative burdens it will impose on
companies. In some Member States postal regulators already
ask for this information from parcel delivery companies.
• Only universal service providers wil be required to submit their
prices to national postal regulators who wil be required to
assess affordability. The Commission has no plans to propose
price regulation.
Question to the interlocutor:
What are Amazon's plans for expanding its delivery services in
Europe?
Unfair B2B practices in Platforms • Online platforms are instrumental for the DSM and enabling SMEs
to access a wider market. Due to the possible dependency of smal
business users on platforms we need to be sure that platforms
behave in a responsible, fair and transparent way.
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• No plans for any horizontal regulation. Considering the quickly
changing online environment, voluntary efforts and self-regulation
of market players could be one of the ways forward.
• We launched an in-depth fact-finding exercise to verify whether
unfair B2B practices could risk impacting innovation or market
access. We are glad we can count on Amazon's cooperation in this
exercise.
IPR Enforcement in e-Commerce
• We are faced with a very difficult and complex reality, where
commercial scale IPR infringing activities became more frequent
and therefore very harmful to the EU economy, and in particular
to the individuals and companies who are supposed to benefit
from these rights.
• Online intermediaries, unwittingly and by the very nature of their
legitimate business activities provide the infrastructure for
commercial scale infringers; therefore they will continue to play a
key role in developing this policy, in our legislative as well as self-
regulatory initiatives.
• The Commission is evaluating the overal functioning of the
current legal framework for IPR enforcement. An evaluation study
has been launched; a dedicated public consultation ended in April
and we wil soon publish the results.
• If this evaluation shows the need to review or complement the
directive, the Commission will later make its proposal(s), in line
with the wishes of the Member States and the European
Parliament. Proposals for an IPRED review are expected not before
the end of 2016. Since the initiative also became a REFIT exercise
we wil also adopt an evaluation report.
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• Progress has also been made on setting up self-regulatory "follow
the money" schemes between rightholders and intermediaries.
The existing MoU on the sale of counterfeit goods via the Internet
has been strengthened by the inclusion of Key Performance
Indicators. This wil mean that its impact wil be measurable over
time. It will also provide empirical evidence for future initiatives.
• Together with the relevant stakeholder groups, DG GROW is
developing cooperation schemes for three other intermediary
services, namely advertising, payment and shipping service
providers. DG GROW is also progressing with its work to ensure
adequate protection of IP in supply chains.
Question to the interlocutor:
It would be useful to know more about the expectations of Amazon
with regard to the modernisation of the IPR enforcement framework.
Product safety in e-Commerce
• Too many non-compliant products are placed onto the Single
Market, including through online sales and via imports from non-
member countries.
• In 2017 the Commission wil launch a comprehensive set of actions
to strengthen market surveil ance capacities in the EU and to step
up efforts to keep unsafe products off the EU market.
• The Single Market can only function wel if the EU legislation on
products is correctly implemented by everyone on the ground to
maintain the highest level of protection and to safeguard the
competitiveness of businesses across the EU.
• The EU customer should be able to trust that products are
compliant and safe, whether sold on- or offline and regardless of
the business structure that may be behind an online platform.
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Payments in E-Commerce
• The expertise on this issue is with Vice-President Dombrovskis
and DG FISMA.
• The Commission communicates with many different market
actors and the voices that are expressed on this and other
issues are varied. The EBA public consultation closed on 12
October and the replies have to be analysed.
• No decisions on the issue of EBA RTS wil be taken by the
Commission before next year, when the EBA submits the final
RTS to the Commission.
Entrepreneurship support by Amazon and the Commission
• We have al been working hard and with good results on
clearing the way for entrepreneurs to start-up companies in
Europe. Now is the time to take the next step for those start-
ups to scale-up into major companies and global y.
• As we know it is the rapidly-growing companies that generate a
disproportionately large share of new jobs. It is on average 6%
of companies who create more than 50% of al new jobs.
• Our public consultation on the possible Start-up/Scale-up
Initiative has shown that there are three sets of barriers in the
way in Europe: legal and regulatory environment that hampers
rather than enables businesses to scale, especial y cross-border;
insufficient access to: skil ed workers, relevant finance and IPR
protections; European start-up and scale-up ecosystem that
needs to be better interlinked to reap ful "benefits of scale"
• We are now in in the process of designing our policy response.
We are determined to add real, practical value through the EU
level policy making, including through a sense of real
partnership also with key private stakeholders. We are listening.
Question to the interlocutor:
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•
How many companies are there in the Launchpad (and how many
specifically from Europe), how much does it cost them and have
you quantified what (how many transactions, including cross-
border and of what value) happened so far. What are the
projections in terms of growth rates?
•
How do you select Launchpad relevant companies? Do you also
buy out companies you discover through Launchpad?
•
What are the main obstacles to trading cross-border in Europe –
from your point of view and from your startup-partners point of
view (delivery, payment methods, taxes etc.)?
•
Are there marked differences between Europe and other regions: in
terms of the profile and success of start-ups and behaviour of
customers?
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Defensives / Q&A
Geo-blocking
Does the proposal give the customer right to have after-sale
services where he/she resides?
• No. Nothing under this proposal changes the current provisions of
after-sale services.
Wil traders have to comply with foreign consumer law?
• The current proposal does not amend or overwrite applicable rules
on consumer law and jurisdictions.
• What the geoblocking proposal does is merely providing
assurances to traders that mere compliance with these new rules
wil not trigger the application of foreign consumer law.
Are you obliging traders to accept any type of payment means?
• No. Traders remain free to decide which means of payment they
accept provided that they treat local and foreign customers in the
same way.
• This non-discrimination rule is based on progress made on
payment services, including safety (strong customer
authentication) and cost of transactions.
Cross-border parcel delivery
Why don't you leave it to the market to act?
• The cross-border parcel market is not competitive for al senders.
For customers wanting to send individual or smal shipments in
many member states and/or in remote areas, the choice of cross-
border delivery services is limited.
• Self- regulation (i.e. the 2013 Parcel Roadmap) has improved
neither affordability nor regulatory oversight.
• There is also a history of anti-competitive behaviour in the parcel
market.
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Why are you increasing regulatory oversight for al delivery
operators? Is Amazon included?
• Yes, Amazon fal s within the scope of the article of the regulation
that requires the provision of data to national postal regulators as
it is active in more than one EU Member State.
• Any undertaking that is involved in the clearance, sorting,
transport and distribution of parcels is within scope, except if they
are only responsible for transport, and providing they have over 50
employees or are active in more than one Member State.
• The Postal Services Directive (2008/6/EC, Article 22a) already
contains requirements that al postal operators should provide
information to National Regulatory Authorities to ensure
conformity with the Postal Services Directive or for clearly defined
statistical purposes, providing it is proportionate with the tasks of
the National Regulatory Authority.
• The current lack of information on cross-border parcel operators
and parcel flows, and the lack of regulatory attention paid to
cross-border activities make it difficult to gain a sufficient
understanding of the market
.
Why is more regulatory oversight for al operators needed?
• In some Member States the scope of regulation does not cover al
the parcels that are used for e-commerce. This leads to
fragmentation of the single market, gaps in statistical data and
regulators who are il -equipped to identify structural issues in the
market.
• More standardisation of the information that parcel operators are
required to provide to postal regulators in different Member
States wil make compliance easier, as well as clarifying legal
obligations. Additional regulation should not create undue
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administrative burdens and must respect the principle of
proportionality.
Wil the Commission ensure that Amazon can provide its same day
delivery services in Paris?
• Aware of the media reports that Paris authorities have threatened
to take action over Amazon's new express delivery service because
they are concerned about the impact on local shops.
• Encouraging cross-border e-commerce is one of the pil ars of the
Digital Single Market strategy.
• The Commission is monitoring developments closely.
Unfair B2B practices in Platforms Question: Why does the Commission focus on unfair trading
practices in B2B relations on online platforms?
During the public consultation preceding our Communication a
number of respondents complained about al eged unfair B2B
practices. Our ensuing fact-finding exercise is planned to conclude by
spring 2017. At this point of time, we do not have pre-conceived
ideas in terms of the outcome of the exercise.
Question: Why is competition law not sufficient to tackle unfair
trading practices of online platforms?
Answer: If the market player applying unfair practices is not in a
dominant position, such practices can often not be addressed by
competition law. In practice, a dominant position is the exception
rather than the rule.
Question: Would any future legislative proposal on platforms aim to
protect European companies against American ones?
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Product safety in e-Commerce
Public consultation on the Internal Market for goods – enforcement
and compliance
One of the priorities to deliver the Single Market Strategy in 2017 is a
new initiative to strengthen enforcement and compliance for goods.
The public consultation on this initiative is open until 31 October
2016. Online platforms, from within or outside the EUs, are an
increasingly popular supply routes for EU customers to purchase
products. They are however also a source on unsafe and non-
compliant products. Amazon's contribution to this public consultation
will be most welcome.
Payments in e-Commerce
Question: Does the Commission intend to promote payment security
over consumer convenience, to the detriment of e-commerce actors?
Answer: While the consumer convenience is a relevant factor for
payments, there are many other parameters that need to be
considered by the Commission, notably payment security, safety of
personal data, technology and business model neutrality and cost of
fraud sustained by the society, including consumers.
On the other hand, one of the aims of the PSD2 is also to stimulate
the payments market and create incentives for new, much safer, but
at the same time innovative and convenient, solutions for payments.
One of such solutions is biometry (e.g. finger print, iris scan, or voice
recognition), which could be used to make payments both secure and
even more convenient than today. Amazon is already testing such
solutions (voice recognition), to my understanding.
Entrepreneurship support: Amazon & Commission
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Question: What are the benefits of matching start-ups with mid-
caps and larger corporations?
Answer: In the Consultation, the idea of establishing matchmaking
platforms between start-ups, medium-sized and large companies was
supported by over 65% of the respondents. 'Matchmaking measures'
were repeatedly highlighted as very important for start-ups in the
open questions, position papers and also came up in al direct
contacts with the start-up community itself.
This idea comes from real entrepreneurs, as a practical instantiation
of policies aimed at 'interconnecting of the European ecosystems' and
'increasing innovativeness and competitiveness of the European
industry and firms'.
Matchmaking big and smal helps small access a larger/stable client
base, skil s and infrastructure and also increases start-ups 'Exit'
options by mobilising 'new' private capital. It serves to also accelerate
companies in the more traditional sectors.
Question: What is the Commission doing to help startup and scale-
ups grow in the European Single Market and is it a policy priority?
Answer: There is already a plethora of relevant and successful policies
and strategies across the European Commission. Accelerating al types
of innovation, increasing diversity of capital available, accelerating
digital transformation, addressing skil s shortages, deepening of the
Single Market to help cross-border trade and links. But barriers persist
and yes, for us accelerating the success of start-ups and scale-ups in
Europe and global y is a priority.
In the 1st half of 2016,
public
consultation on start-ups was organised to seek direct feedback and
new ideas from al relevant stakeholders on how the environment for
start-ups and especial y scale-ups in Europe could be improved. The
Commission wil report on the outcome of the pubic consultation in
the Staff Working Document that will be published in November.
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Question: What is the added value in bringing together the
initiatives that are already ongoing in the Commission?
Answer: Streamlining and demonstrating political leadership in the
area of startups and scaleups is extremely important for the
stakeholders. It is the necessary answer to the repeated plea
throughout the broad consultation process. Putting the multiplicity of
relevant actions together increases their publicity, visibility and
impact. Internal y, it helps fostering better cooperation and
coordination across the Commission services themselves. Moreover,
the majority of initiatives so far concentrated on helping
entrepreneurs to start-up while it became clear that now more needs
to be done to help them scaling up. It is rapidly-growing companies
that generate a disproportionately large share of new jobs. Studies
find that between 5-7% of companies create more than 50% of new
jobs.
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Background information
Geo-blocking
The Digital Single Market Strategy and the Single Market Strategy announced
legislative action to put an end to unjustified geo-blocking and to prevent
discrimination of consumers based on nationality or country of residence. The
Commission proposal was adopted on 25 May 2016.
It aims at ensuring that EU customers are treated in the same way as local
customers in situations where there is obviously no justification for different
treatment.
The proposal would prohibit automatic re-routing of a customer to a different
website and completely blocking access to a website. There is no intention to
harmonise prices across Member States. Traders wil set their prices according
to national markets. However, customers from abroad must be able to access
the goods and services under the same conditions as locals.
Geoblocking is a priority for the Slovak Presidency and a general approach in
Council could be reached stil in 2016.
Cross-border parcel delivery
Amazon is interested in the parcel delivery proposals both as an e-retailer (i.e.
a customer of delivery operators) and as a delivery operator itself. Smal er
retailers sel ing through its Marketplace can arrange physical delivery to the
final customer themselves (and only place a 'virtual listing on the Amazon
website) or use 'Fulfilment by Amazon', where sel ers give their (physical)
inventory stocks to Amazon who then arranges delivery on their behalf.
Amazon is a very significant customer of national postal operators (universal
service providers) and express companies and is able to negotiate very
favourable rates due to its market power. It wil not benefit from more
affordable "public list prices" and may be concerned that lower prices for
smal er companies could make Amazon's delivery services less attractive.
Amazon's expanding delivery services, include same day delivery services and
parcel lockers in some Member States and are seen as a threat by some
universal service providers.
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issues for evaluation seem to be the identification of infringers, cross-border
execution of injunctions, the role of intermediaries and the calculation of
damages, as identified in previous work on IPRED and requested by Council and
Parliament. DG GROW contracted out work on studies on the key issues of the
enforcement framework to provide a deeper evidence base for the review and
launched a public consultation on 9 December 2015, as a means to assess the
functioning of the Directive and the scope of the possible review. We received
almost 500 responses to the consultation and wil soon publish the results.
Single Market Strategy and IPR enforcement
The Strategy states that "as announced in the Digital Single Market Strategy for
Europe, the Commission wil review the IPR enforcement framework, to
respond to the increasingly cross-border nature of infringements. It wil favour
a ‘fol ow the money’ approach to deprive commercial-scale infringers of their
revenue flows, since it is these IPR infringements that do the most harm to the
EU economy. In line with the objectives of this Strategy, specific attention wil
be paid to SMEs, with a view to helping them enforce their intel ectual property
rights."
The Copyright Communication and IPR enforcement
On 9 December 2015 the Commission adopted its Communication "Towards a
modern, more European copyright framework". The Communication stated
that the Commission wil assess options and consider by autumn 2016 the need
to amend the legal framework focussing on commercial-scale infringements,
inter alia to clarify, as appropriate, the rules for identifying infringers, the
(cross-border) application of provisional and precautionary measures and
injunctions, the calculation and al ocation of damages and legal costs. It also
announced that the Commission wil take immediate action to engage, with al
parties concerned, in setting up and applying ‘fol ow-the-money’ mechanisms,
based on a self-regulatory approach, with the objective of reaching agreements
by spring 2016 and that those codes of conduct at EU level could be backed by
legislation, if required to ensure their ful effectiveness.
Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights
Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intel ectual property rights
(IPRED) is a legislative instrument whose overal aim is the better functioning of
the internal market. What it does is approximate the laws of the Member
States in the area of civil enforcement of Intel ectual Property Rights (IPR). It
contains minimum harmonisation rules on measures and remedies available to
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Consumer to consumer (C2C) sales, are general y not considered
commercial activities. However, the assessment of whether a C2C
product is being supplied in the framework of a commercial activity
has to be done on a case-by-case basis, taking into account al
relevant criteria such as the regularity of the supplies, the intention
of the supplier, etc.
Products offered for sale by online operators need to comply with al
applicable EU rules when placed on the EU market. Compliance can
be physical y verified by responsible authorities when the products
are in their jurisdiction, at the soonest at the customs.
Fulfilment service provider obligations
Products offered by online operators are general y stored in
fulfilment houses located in the EU to guarantee their swift delivery
to EU consumers. Products stored in such fulfilment houses are
considered to have been supplied for distribution, consumption or
use in the EU market and thus placed on the EU market. When an
online operator uses a fulfilment house, by shipping the products to
the fulfilment house in the EU, the products are in the distribution
phase of the supply chain.
Parcel service providers only provide services of clearance, sorting,
transport and delivery of parcels.
Fulfilment service providers provide to other economic operators,
like online vendors, a larger set of services like storage of goods,
packaging, sending them to end-customers and dealing with returns.
Some offer al these services. Others only part of them. Some are
global operators and many are micro businesses. They are a
necessary element of the product supply chain and in its placing on
the market.
Enterprises, like Amazon, which act as a fulfilment service provider
going beyond parcel service providers, should be considered as a
distributor for the purposes of EU harmonised law on product safety
and comply with its obligations.
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Payments in e-Commerce.
The new Payment Services Directive (PSD2) introduces strict security
requirements for the initiation and processing of electronic payments, which
apply to al payment service providers. Such strict general approach, fully
supported by the Council and the EP, should significantly
reduce current fraud
levels for al new and more traditional means of payment,
especially online
payments, and help protecting the confidentiality of the user’s financial data
(including personal data). Once PSD2 becomes applicable and unlike today,
payment service providers wil be basical y obliged to apply SCA whenever a
payer initiates an electronic payment transaction.
For remote electronic transactions, such as online payments, the security
requirements go even further, requiring a dynamic link to the amount of the
transaction and the account of the payee as part of the SCA procedure, to
further protect the user by minimising the risks in case of mistakes or
fraudulent attacks.
Strong customer authentication is a process that validates the identity of the
user of a payment service or confirms the validity of the payment transaction
(more specifical y, whether the use of a payment instrument is authorised).
SCA is based on the use of two or more elements categorised as knowledge
(something only the user knows, e.g. a password or a PIN), possession
(something only the user possesses, e.g. the card or an authentication code
generating device) and inherence (something the user is, e.g. the use of a
fingerprint or voice recognition) to validate the user or the transaction. These
elements should be independent (the breach of one element does not
compromise the reliability of the others) and designed in such a way as to
protect the confidentiality of the authentication data.
The draft RTS on SCA-SC, currently discussed at the EBA, is a key “level 2”
legislation to be delivered under PSD2, which addresses in more detail the issue
of security in the payment transactions. The draft addresses several “technical”
requirements for SCA (what processes and actions payment service providers
shal undertake in order to comply with SCA) and includes the exemptions that
apply to the SCA procedure i.e. situations when the use of SCA is not required.
As the main aim of PSD2 was the general improvement of the security of
payment transactions and reduction of fraud levels, these exemptions are
limited in number and scope.
It is the part of RTS related to exemptions from SCA for remote payments that
causes negative comments from the part of the e-commerce market interested
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in maintaining the status quo (weak or even no authentication for most online
transactions). Above al , they claim that exemptions should become the norm
and any form of authentication shal be applied by the individual PSPs as wel
as traders at their discretion, on the basis of the individual transaction risk-
based analysis (also referred to as “targeted authentication”, which name is
misleading) in order to increase consumer convenience. They claim that
otherwise consumers could be discouraged from shopping online because of
cumbersome payment processes. They also maintain that the mass of data
they col ect on consumers and their behaviour provides merchants and cards
schemes with intimate knowledge about the consumers and are sufficient to
identify suspicious transactions.
The
current situation greatly benefits the big market players such as Visa,
MasterCard,
Amazon or PayPal, who can leverage their advantages (e.g. the
Amazon 'One Click' solution for a purchase on Amazon) to offer better
convenience to users. These players are however silent about the cost of fraud
for the solutions they promote. Fraud costs remain hidden in the general
pricing of their services to traders and are in turn passed to consumers through
an increase in the consumer prices.
Card payments on internet constitute around 70% of al card fraud in the EU
(while card transactions on the internet account for less than 10% of al card
payments). Card schemes and e-wal et payment solutions like to underline
their convenience if no SCA is used, but at the same time they charge heavy
fees on merchants for “the protection/security of the transaction” (al egedly, in
case of Paypal it is often 2-3% of the transaction value; cards schemes charge
both fix and percentage fees for security purposes).
Furthermore, the effectiveness of current transaction-risk based analysis
models advocated by Amazon is not considered as sufficient by any of the EU
competent authorities to replace SCA. Its effectiveness is also not confirmed, to
our understanding, by the fraud data analysis. Transaction risk-based analysis is
mostly used today “post-factum” as one of the auxiliary techniques to create a
“defensive parameter” around the electronic payments. Moreover, the data
stored on consumer (consumer details) and their payments means by
merchants raise significant security risks on their own, as traders, unlike
payment service providers, are not subject to any specific data storage and
handling rules when dealing with sensitive financial data.
As regards the issue of consumer convenience in payments, the arguments
used by some e-commerce players appear questionable.
Eurobarometers and
other surveys show that delivery and payment concerns (payment security,
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Amazon.co.uk
Marketplace enables to sell new, used, col ectable and
refurbished items alongside new ones. Marketplace is not an auction; the price
is pre-set by the seller.
Relevant findings from the Public Consultation on the role of the EU for start-
ups and scale-ups
The EU should continue what is good, provide more coherence and streamline
info sources for start-ups – this requires a more coordinated approach within
the EU.
A significant number of respondents cal ed for more information and clarity as
regards rules governing the participation of companies in the EU funded
policies and programmes. Some argued that EU should continue implementing
its successful programmes, such as e.g. COSME and SME Instrument, and they
should get more funds to enable greater participation of potential and existing
entrepreneurs. When it comes to Horizon 2020, some stakeholders were of the
opinion that it should focus more on disruptive and open innovation.
Furthermore, the EU should
focus on connecting existing initiatives (i.e.
incubators, accelerators, start-up ecosystems) and to facilitate Member States'
cooperation by providing means for exchange of information and dissemination
of best practices.
The respondents argued that
access to information on national, EU regulatory
frameworks remain difficult, and that often-burdensome legal, regulatory,
administrative and tax regulations and procedures prevent them from
expanding cross-border. Furthermore, entrepreneurs face the situation that
information is spread across numerous sources and often presented in a way
that is not user-friendly. The same concern was raised regarding the
information about financing opportunities offered by both the EU and the
Member States. Nearly 85% of respondents cal ed for better coherence and
transparency in this area.
In the consultation access to finance was ranked highest among the barrier for
starting a company, with over 71% stating that it is a barrier. Some respondents
strongly argued that there is a need for new 'smart' sources of financing for
start-ups and a set of incentives for investors to increase the volume of venture
capital in Europe. Furthermore, a number of stakeholders underlined the need
for increased private-public col aboration as a mean to finance start-ups
throughout their whole life cycle.
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Securing finance for expansion was listed by 65% of respondents as the number
one obstacle to scaling up within the EU.
Nearly 60% of respondents pointed out the need for measures that would help
start-ups to secure intel ectual property rights (IPRs) and patents in the early
stages of a company life. Furthermore, the need to develop intel ectual
property valuation models to better assess the value of intangible assets was
highlighted by over 44% of respondents.
Furthermore, among main obstacles to fast growth, listed in the replies to open
questions stakeholders pointed to the lack of qualified workers with digital and
technical skil s, lack of leadership skil s to manage a fast growing company,
limited access to government/corporate procurement, finance, distribution
channels and infrastructure.
The need to increase support for digitalisation and establishing an innovation-
friendly environment was mentioned throughout the consultation.
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Amazon.com Economic data
Sales = 107 B USD (67 in USA; 37 International y (33%); 7,8 Web services).
Operating expenses: 104 B USD; Income before taxes = 1,568 B USD Provision
for income taxes = 0,95 B USD = 0,88% of sales;
Net income = 0,596 B USD = 0,55% of sales.
Employees: 230.000, of which 40.000 in EU (+10.000 in EU in 2015). Thousands
of new jobs planned in 2016, at al levels of education, experience and skil s,
including computer scientists and software development engineers.
EU Investment: 15 Bil ion € since 2010 in infrastructure and operations for
fulfilment and customer service, Amazon Web Services data centres (in NL, IRL,
DE, UK, ES, FR, SE, PL), and in its 12 EU R&D centres.
Amazon position
1.
Amazon supports DSM initiatives, in particular:
• the proposal for a Regulation against Geo-blocking and other customer
discriminations by nationality, place of residence or establishment;
• the proposal for a Regulation on Cross-border parcel delivery, and
• the Communication on Online Platforms.
2.
E-Commerce legislative and regulatory issues:
• Enforcement of Intel ectual Property Rights (IPR): Amazon
- In 2011, signed the MoU against online sales of counterfeit goods;
- Supports that the revised IPR enforcement directive keeps the limited
liability regime for hosting service providers of Directive 2000/31/EC on
e-Commerce.
• Safety of products sold online: the Commission Notice ‘Blue Guide’ on
implementation of EU products rules of 2016, considers fulfilment
service providers going beyond parcel delivery like Amazon, as
distributors which have to comply with EU Product Safety legislation.
Amazon thinks that products brought directly from outside the EU
should also be subject to conformity obligations.
• Payment Services Standards: the revised Directive on payments
(2015/2366/EC) is implemented by standards made by European
Banking Authority, to be later adopted by the Commission. Amazon
considers that the draft Regulatory Technical Standards on "Strong
Customer Authentication and Secure Communication", are opposed
by al the industry.
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