Elektroninės komercijos iniciatyvų Lietuvoje teisinė analizė

Abstract

New technologies provide more choices for consumers to achieve their goals. Electronic commerce is increasingly gaining share in traditional commerce market, thus, the legislation base for electronic commerce must be created in order to regulate and promote it. In order to achieve free movement of goods and establish close market relationships throughout the European Union countries care must be taken to include European Union legislation into local legislative base and while doing this the best common European practice should be followed. The paper consists of four parts and conclusions. The first part introduces a definition of electronic commerce. The European Union legislation affecting electronic commerce, their aims and major principles are discussed in second part. The third part is concerned with current laws of Lithuanian Republic regulating electronic commerce as well as with the level of implementation of coresponding European Directives in the Lithuanian law. The legislative analysis of electronic commerce initiatives and the state of electronic commerce in Lithuania is covered in the fourth part of the paper. The fifth part contains the conclusions of the analysis. The superficial and inconsistent implementation of European Union Directives in the Lithuanian law sometimes leads to contradictions between the Lithuanian law and law of other European Union countries. Inadequate computer literacy and lack of easily accessible information on electronic commerce procedures, mistrust in electronic market and poorly developed privacy practices are considered to be major obstacles to electronic commerce development in Lithuania.