In the presence of EU-Commission Guenther Oettinger, cep has presented in Brussels its latest study on competition challenges in the consumer internet industry.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has declared that the completion of a Digital Single Market is one of the priorities of his period of office. With the Digital Single Market Strategy, the Commission wants to make the EU the leader of the digital economy. A central pillar of this strategy is the building of a "data economy" (Big Data, cloud services, Internet of Things).

The European Commission will harmonise the contractual rights of both parties in online purchasing EU wide. In addition, it will submit legislative proposals to prevent "unjustified geo-blocking". Geo-blocking is a technical measure used by online traders to restrict access to cross-border online purchasing by users in a specific geographical location.

In its Strategy for a Digital Single Market, the Commission lays down numerous measures to strengthen the European digital economy. This cepPolicyBrief deals with the second pillar of the Strategy (Digital networks and services). It deals, inter alia, with the reform of telecommunications regulations, the examination of the rules on audiovisual media services, online platforms, and with the rules on illegal content on the Internet.

The European Commission has announced a reform of the copyright rules in the EU before the end of this year. It intends to reduce the differences between national copyright rules by way of harmonised exceptions. The cep assesses the benefits and problems of mandatory exceptions to copyright.

The cep investigates how EU net neutrality rules are best shaped to guarantee innovation. We extend the focus to the upcoming US regulation and conclude with six recommendations to EU policy makers.

The EU Commission wants to promote financing by way of crowdfunding.

The EU Commission wants to promote investment in NGA networks and maintain effective competition on the broadband market. It wants to do this by stricter non-discrimination obligations, greater clarity as to when obligations on price control for NGA networks should be removed and by imposing a standard costing methodology.

The Commission wants to hold an open debate on the possibilities of mobile health and, in particular, to establish whether and what problems exist in relation to extending the sector. It calls on the public to answer a list of 23 questions.