§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consultations they held before deciding on the accreditation scheme for the e-commerce certification programme; and whether the criteria for accreditation were agreed by those consulted as offering adequate protection for consumers and thus to encourage e-commerce in the United Kingdom. [HL1924]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe Government invited views on their proposals on industry codes of practice in their consumer White Paper of July 1999. The White Paper included outline core principles for all codes and additional principles for e-commerce codes. TrustUK developed its criteria based on these principles in consultation with business, consumer and regulatory 61WA organisations. As a result, a considerable number of changes were made. Some consultees would have preferred more detailed criteria in some areas, while others felt certain criteria too prescriptive. The final draft of the criteria was presented to the TrustUK Working Group and a consensus of agreement formed. Codes of practice should be flexible instruments and TrustUK is developing a transparent procedure for keeping its criteria under review.
All applications for TrustUK approval will be considered by an approval committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Borrie. To ensure no conflicts of interest arise, no one who is a member of an organisation that operates an on-line code will sit on the committee.