Although the UK has left the EU, companies wanting to trade with the EU will still have to ensure that their products and services are traded in compliance with EU law; which is also true for any trade with any other country in the world.

In terms of eCommerce the latest developments within the EU are:

The Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act encompass a single set of new rules applicable across the whole EU. They will create a safer and more open digital space, with European values at its centre.

The DSA and DMA have two main goals:

  1. to create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected.
  2. to establish a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness, both in the European Single Market and globally.

The e-Commerce Directive is the foundational legal framework for online services in the Internal Market. The purpose of the Directive is to remove obstacles to cross-border online services in the EU and provide legal certainty to business and citizens.

The Directive sets out basic requirements on mandatory consumer information, steps to follow in online contracting and rules on commercial communications (e.g. online advertisements and unsolicited commercial communications).

  • .eu domains

As advised by the UK Government and the latest .eu domain name notice from the European Commission:

You can only register or hold .eu domain names if you are:

  • a Union citizen, independent of your place of residence;
  • a natural person who is not a Union citizen and who is a resident of a Member state;
  • an organisation that is established in the Union, without prejudice to the application of national law

UK owners of .eu domains registered prior to the UK's withdrawal will not be able to renew them. Moreover, the registry for .eu will be entitled to revoke such domain names on its own initiative.