INFORMATION SOCIETY SERVICES: INFORMATION SOCIETY SERVICES: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW RELEVANT IS THE DEFINITION?

Abstract

The term ‘Information Society’ and the closely linked concept of ‘Information Society services’ appear regularly in the European Commission’s announcements, literature and, in the text of Directives in the European Union’s legislation. The Commission has a dedicated office, the Information Society Project Office, established to coordinate the various Directorates General with a website devoted to the Information Society. 1 1 http://www.europa.et.int/comm/information_society/index_en.htm. Most recently of course the term ‘Information Society services’ has appeared in the Electronic Commerce Directive 2 2 Directive 2000/31 EC on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce) (the Electronic Commerce Directive). and, prior to that, it was used in the Conditional Access Directive. 3 3 Directive 98/84 EC on the legal protection of services based on or consisting of conditional access (the “ Conditional Access Directive”). But in both the Electronic Commerce and Conditional Access Directives, Information Society services are defined by reference to Article 1 of the earlier Transparency Directive 4 4 Directive 98/48 EC amending Directive 98/34 EC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (the Transparency Directive). which states that Information Society services are “any service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of the recipient for services”. This article considers the scope and legal background to that definition.