Introduction

Digital trade

About

While trade may conjure up images of physical goods being shipped across the world, a lot of it (partially) takes place online. This brings major changes for consumers ranging from non-EU providers offering their services to European residents, to our online shopping opportunities.

Modern digital markets are fuelled by personal data. In e-commerce, for example, a consumer’s personal data needs to be processed to conclude an online sale. Citizens shouldn’t need to care about territorial borders, although regulations on how to protect these data differ widely around the world.

We want consumers to benefit from trade negotiations. And we work to prevent these same negotiations from undermining fundamental rights to privacy and personal data protection, and ultimately, trust in the online economy.

For example, we scrutinise ongoing negotiations about e-commerce that a large number of World Trade Organization (WTO) members is engaged in. Here, we cooperate with Consumers International to promote consumer trust in this global e-commerce.