EU, Norway and Iceland online orders

Due to the UK being a member of the EU, it has to comply to EU consumer law. Therefore, the consumer laws of the UK and EU are similar or identical. The EU runs the 'European Consumer Centre' in twenty five of it's member states (update, 2010: there are now 27 member states, but no confirmation that a ECC is in all 27). Norway and Iceland also comply with EU consumer law. The member states of the EU are provided below,

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Republic of Ireland
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom
  

The UK's EEC website can be found at the following Web address,

• http://www.ukecc.net/

The EU has published two directive which deal with cross border commerce within the EU. The first directive is named 'European Directive 2000/31/EC', and deals with ecommerce within the EU. This directive lays out some basic regulations for online traders in the EU to adhere to,

• Publish a trader address
• Publish contact details which provide immediate communication
• Easy to understand process of the trading contract
• Provide a receipt upon close of the order transaction

The second directive is named 'European Directive 97/7/EC', and deals with distance selling within the EU. Cross boarder online trading falls within this directives remit. The regulations outlined for Web traders include,

• A thorough description of the product or service
• Shipping cost of the goods
• Any taxation due on the order
• The price of the order
• Details about the cancellation process, and that a cooling off period exists
• Any information about future price change, and the length of the offer

The above directives outline the basic consumer rights that a UK citizen should expect when making an online purchase from the European Union, Norway or Iceland.