Press Release
17 January 2022

Main priorities for 2022 for the Digital Commerce sector

Today, Ecommerce Europe presents its main priorities for the digital commerce sector in the year 2022. The retail industry is in the midst of a major transformation. Accelerated by COVID-19, retailers are increasingly using and developing green, digital and omnichannel commerce solutions. Ecommerce Europe’s Secretary General, Luca Cassetti, commented:

“With this priority paper, we would like to bring our key ambitions and concerns to the attention of European policymakers. These last two years, amid slowing economic activity and a global health crisis, retailers have had to be resilient. We believe that our industry has proven to be dynamic and is embracing the current digital and green reality. At the same time, we see that retailers are still too often faced with regulatory barriers, either hindering their efforts at cross-border commerce or complicating the adoption of an omnichannel approach”.

With the ultimate goal of creating a European framework fit for current and future challenges that will boost digital commerce in Europe, Ecommerce Europe’s vision about the future of retail is driven by a set of horizontally applicable key principles. We would like to reiterate that these principles should be the foundation of European legislation in our field:

• CHANNEL NEUTRALITY in legislation as paramount for digital retailers to succeed.
• HARMONISATION of EU rules to reduce fragmentation and create legal certainty.
• PROPORTIONALITY and clarity of EU rules and obligations on businesses.
• LEVEL PLAYING FIELD between EU-based and non-EU based businesses
• Boost and ensure effective ENFORCEMENT of EU legislation.
• SME-FRIENDLY policies to reduce administrative burdens.

Our policy priorities for 2022 focus on:

1. Rules fit for the evolving retail landscape
2. Balanced and data-driven economy
3. A fair and sustainable future for retail
4. A competitive and innovative European retail payment market
5. A future-proof taxation framework
6. Logistics fit for the future of commerce