Some Implications of the Development of E-Commerce on EU Tax Regulations

Abstract

E-commerce has progressed within Europe before, on the basis of the pre-pandemic raise, with COVID-19 determining an explosion of its evolution. The European e-commerce market is very important, linking together more than 500 million consumers. This paper presents the results of assessing the guidelines and trends observed in the European regulatory process in the current period, when e-commerce is developing appreciably, studying the applicable legal norms and their effects on facilitating the control of remote payments. Compliance with the VAT (value-added tax) regime is addressed in the context described by the two important categories of active legal rules: the rules for consumer protection and the rules related to ensuring data protection. The investigation of the legal framework in this regard started from the presupposition that the necessary changes in regulation for facilitating e-commerce are capable to determine indirect changes in many aspects of financial rules and taxation. While analyzing the regulation of online trade, the various measures undertaken recently in respect to European sources of law and their implications for national legal framework opened additional directions of investigation. This paper points out the indirect effect of e-commerce development on the regulatory framework, both in the area of consumer protection and in line with the difficult balance between the right to information and protection of data. The fiscal effects of e-commerce payments and the challenges for the value-added tax regime are also addressed, both from a theoretical point of view and with input from the Court of Justice of the European Union’s jurisprudence. The analyzed documents show that, in this respect, the legal reform will go deeper and will continue with the rhythm of the development of the online activities.