[eccr] Regulations not keeping up with technology

Title:  Regulations not keeping up with technology

                Regulations not keeping up with technology

28/03/2002     Editor: Tamsin McMahon
Source: http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=9683

Although the use of information technologies and the internet is reshaping the economy, the current regulatory framework and economic policies aren¹t set to cope with these changes, Deutsche Bank research found. 

The European Union¹s directives on e-commerce and electronic signatures should help legal certainty in e-commerce. But those directives start to show their weaknesses when put into practice, the research argues. 

Most e-commerce-related issues are adequately covered by the legal framework of the old economy, the report says. But national regulations have virtually no effect in global markets, including on issues like data protection. 

In some problem areas, such as copyright law, the report found that technological developments race for ahead of regulatory efforts. 

The report argues that the industry must come up with technical solutions to cope with the new possibilities for reproducing and spreading digital products. 

European tax systems must also take into account the face of the new international economy and the EU should look to consumer protection standards, especially in the sphere of data protection. 

It¹s also not enough for national antitrust authorities to simply establish their own competition policies, the report says, they need to cooperate internationally. 


Tamsin McMahon is assistant editor of Europemedia.net. She was most recently an education reporter and editor for the Peterborough Examiner. She has worked at daily papers in Toronto, Hamilton and Edmonton, as well as for The Canadian Press. Tamsin holds a journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnic University.