The Variety of ISP Liability in the EU Member States

BOOKS AND ACADEMIC ARTICLES 2013 in Computer Law Review International, Vol. 14, n.º 2, pp. 33-39.

The exponential growth of e-commerce has given rise to the need to evaluate the effectiveness of Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) which was adopted when certain services of the Web 2.0 and 3.0 did not yet exist. Whilst it is difficult to criticize the liability exemption regime for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) established by this law, implementation by individual Member States has created great uncertainty, especially for a market where the players almost always operate on an international level. This article will attempt to focus on the general principles established by the E-Commerce Directive with particular reference to liability on the part of the Hosting Service Provider. Following a brief outline of the three key concepts in Article 14 of the E-Commerce Directive (I.), the article embarks on a comparative analysis of how these concepts have been implemented by France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK (II.). It then concludes with a table presenting a general overview of the implementation of the E-Commerce Directive in all 27 EU Member States (III.).

Em co-autoria com Giuseppe Vaciago