Codes of conduct
The Electronic Commerce Directive established that the Member States and the Commission should encourage the development of codes of conduct, albeit of a voluntary nature for information society service providers.
To this end, the Directive ordered the Member States and the
Commission to promote:
1. The
elaboration of codes of conduct at Community level, through commercial,
professional or consumer associations or organizations, in order to contribute
to the correct application of the guiding principles of electronic commerce in
the internal market.
2. The
voluntary submission to the Commission of draft codes of conduct at national or
community level.
3. The
possibility of accessing the codes of conduct electronically in the Community
languages.
4. Communication
to the Member States and the Commission, by professional and consumer
associations or organizations, of their evaluation of the application of their
codes of conduct and its impact on trade-related practices, usages or customs
electronic.
5. The
elaboration of codes of conduct regarding the protection of minors and human
dignity.
As well as that the Member States and the Commission had to
encourage the participation of associations or organizations that represent
consumers in the drafting and application of codes of conduct that affect their
interests.
The art. 18 of the LSSI entrusts Public Administrations with
the mission of promoting, through coordination and advice, the elaboration and
application of voluntary codes of conduct, by corporations, associations or
commercial, professional and consumer organizations, in matters regulated by
the LSSI. With the special commission to the General Administration of the
State to promote the elaboration of codes of conduct of community or
international scope.
The LSSI itself suggests, without imposing it, the content
of such codes of conduct, which may deal, in particular, with:
1. Procedures
for the detection and removal of illegal content.
2. The
protection of recipients against sending unsolicited commercial communications
electronically.
3. Extrajudicial
procedures for the resolution of conflicts that arise from the provision of
information society services.
The LSSI provides that, in the drafting of codes of conduct,
the participation of consumer and user associations and representative organizations
of people with physical or mental disabilities must be guaranteed , when they
affect their respective interests.
Furthermore, the codes of conduct must take into account the
protection of minors and human dignity when their content may affect them, and
specific codes on these matters may be drawn up, if necessary. The codes of
conduct referred to by the LSSI must be accessible electronically and, in order
to make them more widely known, their translation into other official languages
in the State and in the EU will be encouraged.
As a specific mandate for the Government, the Eighth Final
Provision of the LSSI established that, within one year from the entry into
force of the law, it would have to approve a distinctive that allows the
identification of service providers that respect codes of conduct adopted with
the participation of the Council of Consumers and Users , and that include,
among other contents, adherence to the Consumer Arbitration System or other
systems of extrajudicial conflict resolution that respect the principles
established in the community regulations on alternative systems of resolution
of conflicts with consumers, in the terms established by regulation.
In compliance with this provision, RD 292/2004, of February
20, was approved , which creates the public trust mark in the services of the
information society and electronic commerce and regulates the requirements and
concession procedure. , which was in force until October 9, 2005 , when it was
replaced by RD 1163/2005, of September 30 , which regulates the public trust
mark in the services of the information society and electronic commerce , as
well as the requirements and the granting procedure.
This RD 1163/2005 establishes the so-called online public
trust mark and will be applicable to corporations, associations or commercial,
professional and consumer organizations that adopt codes of conduct destined to
regulate the relations between service providers of the society of the
information and consumers and users, when adherence to such codes grants the
right to use and administer the public trust mark online. As well as the
service providers of the information society that make use of said distinctive.
RD 1163/2005 comes to develop the requirements that must be
met by national or higher codes of conduct in aspects such as their minimum
content, which must include:
1. The
specific guarantees offered to consumers and users that improve or increase those
recognized by the legal system.
2. A system
of extrajudicial conflict resolution among those provided for in art. 7 of the
standard itself.
3. The
specific commitments assumed by the adhered service providers in relation to
the specific problems posed to the consumers and users of the sector,
identified according to the information of the promoters of the code and that
provided, for this purpose, by the consumer associations and the
Administrations Public on claims submitted by consumers and users.
4. The scope
of the service provider's activities subject to the code.
