Your views heard: building a Digital Single Market for Europe - Main contents
A selection of the many views and experiences that we received for the Digital Single Market
In March, I asked everyone interested to share their experiences and views to feed into our strategy for a #DigitalSingleMarket (DSM) for Europe, using the dedicated Digital4EU website.
The idea was to make this kind of engagement smarter, shifting from consultation to participation.
We received a good deal of useful feedback - and have done our best to incorporate it into the DSM thinking as much as possible.
I believe that our strategy launched today does indeed reflect this cross-section of people's views.
As a first principle, the most important view expressed was unanimous agreement on the importance of creating a DSM and that it will increase economic growth in Europe. Future policies should boost innovation and creativity, protect consumers and data, and also guarantee competitiveness.
Unsurprisingly, opinions differ on the best way to achieve this.
Probably the most controversial area was copyright - again, not a surprise.
On one hand, film trade associations and some telecom operators support exclusive territoriality as a way to preserve existing business models and avoid commercial and other risks.
On the other hand, voices that included NGOs, startups and service providers - as well as the vast majority of everyday online users - supported the idea of consumers being able to view what they have bought in one EU country while they are in another.
The issue of geo-blocking also came up often. So did online trading, or e-commerce.
There were a lot of views describing how people cannot access material they bought in other EU countries, buy products or view digital content in other countries apart from their own. They want copyright rules to be more aligned across the EU, especially when it comes to today's many exceptions - and also consider the complexity of licensing to be a problem for innovation.
With e-commerce, there was a general view that Europe needs more aligned rules for online purchases. Consumer associations want to see the existing laws properly enforced, along with strong rules to protect personal data. The business side mentioned barriers ranging from technical standards to safety, labelling, language, delivery services, consumer credit and territorial supply contracts.
There were also those who called for a competitive single market for parcel delivery and payments.
I believe that most of these issues are addressed in our strategy.
Startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses were concerned about splintered markets and heavy red tape. They want simplified procedures for setting up and managing companies, incentives for risk-takers and modern approaches to bankruptcy. Some also mentioned the negative consequences for very small companies that arise from changed VAT rules, and said there should be a common minimum threshold put in place.
These points are either part of the DSM or will be covered in other forthcoming initiatives.
I was interested to see people mentioning the need for Europe to have a single telecoms market - while adding that what we are doing today to achieve this is not enough.
Telecoms companies said they wanted the same rules to apply for providing similar services. They are unhappy that digital services fall under electronic communication services (mainly operators) and others under information society services (mostly internet services).
Consumer organisations want to see an end to roaming charges - as I have said myself many times.
There were many who wanted to see better digital infrastructure - mainly through investing in broadband or optical fibre - with some people mentioning the need for EU-aligned conditions for access to spectrum.
On platforms, some said they wanted legislation to be neutral regarding technology, platform or type of network. Others argued that it was problematic to focus on "platform neutrality", drawing parallels to platforms that exist in the physical world - in the car industry, for example - and questioned the idea of regulating a specific platform. Then, there were those who demanded regulation and pointed to the monopoly situation enjoyed by some companies.
I think our approach on this follows what we have heard from you: opening Europe to digital realities while ensuring fairness and service at the same time.
Lastly, for the future, there was recognition that we need strong cyber-security to underpin the data economy. Several argued that without trust, data protection or online privacy, there is no basis for conducting business - therefore fewer opportunities for people as well as companies. From industry in particular, there were calls for policies that support interoperability and standardisation, to help technology diffusion and industrial scaling-up of new activities and businesses.
The role of e-government came up in the context of being a catalyst for digital advancement - and the European Commission was called upon to set a positive example by digitalising its own procedures.
As I said, this is just a selection of the views expressed - and I am grateful for all of them. I am confident that our strategy will meet your expectations.
After today's announcement of the strategy, experts from many Commission departments involved in the DSM will begin a process of listening, explaining and discussing in all 28 EU countries.
I myself was in Bulgaria on April 20-21 and last week in Sweden to talk about our DSM plans. I will be in Estonia later this week and then in Poland on May 14.
My fellow European Commissioners will also be helping: this Friday, Commissioner Vestager will be in Denmark, for example. There is a lengthy calendar of visits planned by other Commissioners in the next couple of months to France, Slovenia, Croatia, Finland, Austria, Greece and the UK - to name a few.
The DSM debate remains open and the discussion is far from over: you are welcome to continue using the same Digital4EU website to send us your thoughts on the strategy or to tell us how you feel certain views were represented in the final strategy paper.
Thank you once again for taking part and giving your views on DSM. Another blog soon.
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