By Martin Banks - 21st September 2009
I support eBay's call to change outdated European competition laws
Mary Honeyball
A UK MEP has backed calls by eBay, the internet auction house, for the EU to amend competition law to stop brands from restricting the sale of their products on the internet.
Socialist deputy Mary Honeyball, said, "In these tough economic times European customers and businesses need to be free to buy and sell all products at the most competitive market rates available.
"The internet provides a way for us to do this, by creating equal access to goods and services across Europe.
"So I support eBay's call to change outdated European competition laws this autumn and enable online retailers to sell all goods no matter whether they originate from Asda, Apple or Armani."
So far, 750,000 people, the majority from the UK, France and Germany, have signed an eBay petition urging EU regulators to stop companies blocking online sales.
The commission is currently updating rules on distribution deals and interested parties have until 28 September to comment on the proposals.
eBay sellers from the UK, France and Germany visited Strasbourg during last week's plenary to urge MEPs to step up their campaign against what they see as unfair trade practices.
"eBay was built on a simple idea - that it could empower individuals by building a global marketplace where practically anyone could buy or sell practically anything," said Alex von Schirmeister, European head of business development at eBay.
"Unfortunately, that idea is under threat from certain brand owners and manufacturers who are trying to block and restrict unfairly the sale of legitimate products on the internet.
"Through this online petition our community of users is calling on policymakers to amend European competition law to stop these unfair trade practices."
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