§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reason the proposed transposition of the EU e-commerce Directive into UK law, as set out in the Government's consultation document, is materially different from the form of transposition adopted by Germany. [54877]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe aim of transposition is to reproduce faithfully the meaning of a Directive in—and in accordance with the practice of—national legislation. Member States may therefore adopt different wording in order to achieve the same effect and often do so. Whatever the textual differences, the Government's understanding is that the German legislation transposing the E-Commerce Directive has the same intention as the draft UK Regulations on which public consultation closed on 2 May. The Government is now considering whether the wording of the UK Regulations giving effect to that intention can be improved.
§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from(a) the e-envoy and (b) the Cabinet Office with regard to the implementation of the EU e-commerce Directive. [54878]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe Department has worked closely with all branches of Government, including the Office of the e-Envoy and the Cabinet Office, in formulating its approach to, and proposals for, implementing the E-Commerce Directive and will continue to do so in finalising those proposals in the light of responses to the recent public consultation.
§ Mr. SpringTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of the world's electronic commerce business was conducted in Britain,(a) in March 2000 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available. [57553]
§ Mr. AlexanderWe have been unable to locate official statistics through ONS, OECD (or any other international group) that would allow a comparison between the UK and global levels of e-commerce value.