EU: Electronic Cash Rules

“If electronic cash transactions are to increase in future, the question of consumer protection cannot be left to wait. Customer confidence is a major problem for these new methods of payment. This is why our committee believes the Commission’s paper has come at just the right time and why we have given it our unanimous support.” So said Willy De Clercq (Liberal, Belgium), chairman of the European Parliament´s Legal Affairs Committee, following the committee’s adoption of a report on electronic shopping. The committee has also called for a Directive to be drawn up on electronic means of payment, the main tasks of which would be clarification of the definitions of credit cards, payment cards, cash cards and other payment systems. This report will go to the full Parliament in March.