Silicon.com to give Parliamentary evidence

Silicon.com will give evidence later today to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union, on our stance regarding the regulation of ecommerce.

Sub-Committee B is seeking reactions to the ecommerce regulations being formed both within the EU and in national governments across Europe.

The inquiry will be considering Silicon.com's answers to the following questions:

What needs to be done to create confidence and to stimulate ecommerce?

Does the European Commission's draft Action Plan 'e-Europe: An Information Society for All' offer a realistic means of promoting ecommerce in the EU?

Will codes of conduct and co-regulation provide sufficient protection? Is there a case for intervention by national governments and the EU?

Do the institutions of national governments, on the one hand, and the EC, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, on the other, function with sufficient flexibility and coherence to promote the EU's objectives in the field of ecommerce?

Should existing EU institutions' internal structures be changed - or new ones created - to improve policy development and co-ordination?

How can structural change be brought about fast enough to accommodate the growth of ecommerce?

If you have any strong views on these questions, email them to us on editorial@nmtv.net by 2.00pm GMT today and we will incorporate them in our answers to the House of Lords.

A more detailed report of this afternoon's proceedings will be published in the next few days.