Final report on the sector inquiry on electronic commerce

On 10 May 2017 the European Commission published its final report on the sectoral survey on electronic commerce in consumer goods and digital content in the EU.

E-commerce has been growing steadily in recent years for both businesses and consumers. The percentage of people aged 16 to 74 who have already ordered goods or services online has increased from 30% in 2007 to 55% in 2016.

This has had a significant impact on consumers' purchasing behavior and on the strategies adopted by companies. Since price transparency has increased considerably with online commerce, consumers can now compare prices and move from one site to another in order to find the best offer. This implies strong price competition affecting both online and offline sales. In order to adapt as quickly as possible to competitors' prices, companies use automatic adjustment software. This evolution has created alternative models of online distribution, such as online marketplaces enabling easy access with limited efforts to customers.

As for digital content, electronic commerce has concentrated on the distribution of audiovisual and musical content. Online transmission reduces broadcasting costs and increases flexibility over traditional technologies. The greatest challenge for digital content is the license to use related rights such as the right to technologies and their use, rights of broadcasting, and geographical rights.

E-commerce also creates new competition problems, including selective distribution by producers or restrictions on sales, and online advertising, where tariff restrictions are by far the most widespread. In addition, there are sales restrictions on online marketplaces and geographical restrictions.

Concerning digital content, competitive issues arise from contractual restrictions in licensing agreements, such as the scope of these rights, territorial / geographical restriction, contract duration and payment structures.

Another significant challenge is the use of large amounts of data often referred to as "big data".
Taking these new challenges into account, the Commission will ensure that the EU competition rules are properly and consistently applied to commercial practices that have emerged with e-commerce and pose a potential danger to the functioning of the digital market.