Complete and structured lecture notes of the course Introduction to Technology Law. First Year of LLB in International and European law at the University of Groningen.
Outline
- E (electronic)-Contracts
- e-Money
- Commercial speech
Continent => Europe
- Population => 746.4 million people
- -% internet users (EU) => 87%
- Online sales => 757 billion euros (2020)
- Top 10 list of internet retailers for the EU =>
1. Amazon, Staples, Apple (USA)
2. Otto (Germany)
3. Tesco (UK)
4. Groupe Casino (France)
5. Shop Direct Group, Home Retail
6. Group (UK)
7. Zalando (Germany)
8. John Lewis (UK)
People in Western Europe (in the North) trust more buying goods and services online than the
Eastern and South parts of Europe.
For non-personal goods, people are buying them more than personal goods.
December 2020 – Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act
Two draft acts on how the digital internal market should operate (they have not been adopted
yet, they are being discussed).
2 main goals:
1. To create a safer digital space (in which we receive goods and services online) in which
the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected.
2. To establish a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness, both
in the European Single Market and globally: To ensure that companies are able to
compete on the basis of their merits because what we are noticing currently is that some
companies, specially the ones offering other services online, have an advantage when
reaching the costumers, when offering their products, they decide what type of publicity
might reach them, etc.
e-Contracts
Contract (in the physical world) = Agreement between two or more parties:
Meeting of minds (agreement) on a number of issues:
- Goods or services that are going to be exchanged: Subject of the contract.
- Terms and conditions: Payment, delivery of goods, etc.
- This creates a juridical relation between the parties.
There are different ways: E.g.: If you buy emobile goods you also have to go to a notary.
, Conclusion of e-Contracts
Meeting of minds…. With a machine?
e-Commerce Directive
A set of common principles to be followed by all e-commerce sites BUT no common rules on
contract formation (that is left for each of the MS).
It is a directive => It allows the MS to implement them further. They only introduce common
principles that are not at full harmonization. Normally there are at the laws leve, MS need to go
further to introduce further rules and regulations to reach a specific role. Basically, MS need to
ensure that e-Commerce operates in their territory and they do so by introducing their own laws
that follow the principles that this directive has been introducing.
In the directive: There are no clear rules on when is an e-contract concluded, that is left to one
of each of the MS
Conclusion: There are general principles that the state should follow.
UK law
How has the UK been implementing the Directive?
- The web page (that offers goods and services to yoU) operated by the retailer is to be
treated as an invitation to treat: It is not immediately the offer. Therefore, offer is basically
an invitation to treat yourself When you place the order, that is what is considered as the
offer.
- The order placed by the customer is then to be treated as an offer to buy: It is not the
company offering some goods but you offer to buy some goods.
- The acknowledge of the order is an acknowledgment of the offer, not an acceptance.
- Either party remains in a position to withdraw from the contract until such time as the
retailer sends their dispatch confirmation email.
- The dispatch confirmation mail forms acceptance and concludes the contract: The
moment in which a physical person has been going to the shell, checking that the goods
that we were appealing on the internet page are available and sending you the good.
Before that, you have the right to withdraw the offer without any indications.
Conclusion: For a e-contract, there is a need to have a physical person in between. That is the
reason why it is only when we receive the email that says that the goods are dispatched that
means that a physical person has been entering the picture in the equation and the contract is
considered as concluded.
Art 11(1) e-Commerce Directive
“…the order and the acknowledgement of receipt are deemed to be received when the parties
to whom they are addressed are able to access them.”
What is the moment in which there is the acknowledgment of receipt? When you receive you
email or when you access your email? The general assumption is that once you receive the
email, you were in a position to access it. Therefore the contract would be considered as
concluded. However, if you can prove (on the basis of the law) that you did not access your
email, then, it would be considered as not concluded (for the email we will probably need the
help of the service provider to prove it, to need to be backed with technical support).
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