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In a plenary vote today, the Parliament called upon the EU Commission to properly examine existing consumer protection laws before introducing new legislation or expand existing rules on software and digital content*. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the European Software Association welcome the European Parliament’s call for a thorough assessment of consumer protection for digital content and software.
“We look forward to working with the EU Commission to examine whether there are circumstances under which existing consumer protection rules** and software customer assistance (including reimbursement, warranties, product replacement, technical support, and customer assistance) do not provide redress,” said Francisco Mingorance, director of public policy Europe for BSA.
“In doing so, we will support fact-based policies that do not put European software companies at a competitive disadvantage - mostly to the detriment of Europe’s small & medium enterprises (SMEs) - and that could have unintended consequences on product prices and choice for consumers,” Eilert Hanoa, CEO of Mamut and vice chairman of European Software Association said.
The software industry is eager to contribute to the consultation and looks forward to working with the Commission to ensure that all actions taken benefit the consumer and ensure an open, competitive and innovative European software industry.
Lisa Randles, Public Affairs Director, EMEA, Business Software Alliance:+44 207 340 6088 or lisar@bsa.org
Siada El Ramly, EU Policy Advisor, European Software Association:+32 2 774 98 30 or contact@europeansoftware.org
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CA, Inc., Cadence, Cisco, CNC, Dell, EMC, Entrust, HP, IBM, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, Monotype Imaging, PTC, SAP, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, The MathWorks and UGS.
The European Software Association was created on 19 October 2005 and represents European Independent Software Vendors. Current members include: 1C (Russia), Albany (UK) Beta Systems Software AG (Germany), Bizitek (Turkey), Business Objects S.A. (France), CEGID (France), CODA Group (UK), Coretech (Turkey), Dassault Systèmes (France), Fenestrae B.V. (The Netherlands), Hogia AB (Sweden), KTW (Austria), Lexware GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), LogicaCMG (The Netherlands), Logo Yazilim A.S. (Turkey), Macrovision (UK), Mamut ASA (Norway), Microsoft (France), msg systems ag (Germany), Northgate Information Solutions (UK), Oracle Corporation, Sage Group plc (UK), SAP (Germany), S.C. Info World S.R.L. (Romania), SkyRecon Systems (France), Totalsoft (Romania), Unicom (Czech Republic), Unit 4 Agresso (The Netherlands), Update Software AG (Austria), Version One (UK), @Road (UK).
**The EU legal framework comprises 4 key Directives : Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Directive (Directive 1993/13/EEC); Distance Selling Directive (Directive 1997/7/EC); E-Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC), Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/29/EC). This legal framework is complemented by additional national rules and remedies.
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