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‘Save your zone’: A campaign going beyond local business

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future December 21, 2020June 9, 2021Amazon, Labor Relations, Local business, saveyourzone

Since the end of November, the European Association for Digital Transition has been doing the ’save your zone’ campaign in the four leading economies of the European Union – Spain, France, Italy and Germany. With this initiative, we are looking to defend nearby stores during a Christmas season that, for many businesses, will decide their survival.

Europe’s battle between ePrivacy and child safety

European Association for Digital Transition Rights and freedom December 4, 2020June 9, 2021Childhood, European Commission, Privacy

When the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications back in 2017, it probably had no idea of the conflict to come. Better known as the ePrivacy Directive, the proposed legislation simply aims to update protections of the fundamental right of EU citizens to privacy and confidentiality when using public communications networks. And it’s finally due to come into effect on 21 December.

After the US launch of Amazon Pharmacy, is Europe next?

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future December 3, 2020June 9, 2021Amazon, Competition, health, Local business

Amazon’s announcement last week that it was launching its own online pharmacy not only shook the US drugs market but also raised questions here in Europe. The online retail giant has already reshaped the shopping and shipping landscape. Now, it plans to enter the prescription and over the counter medicine market worth the equivalent of €260 billion in the US alone.

OK, Amazon is too powerful. What should we do?

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future December 2, 2020June 9, 2021Amazon, Local business, saveyourzone

Amazon was born in 1994 as a bookstore, because it was clear to Jeff Bezos that book sales were a perfect fit for e-commerce. The founder of Amazon developed the right idea at the right time, and the rest is an impressive story of business success: Amazon is worth more than a trillion and a half dollars on the stock exchange today. To give some context, this is a figure that far exceeds the combined GDP of Spain and Portugal.

#saveyourzone: we call on European mayors to defend local business against e-commerce giants

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future November 27, 2020June 9, 2021Amazon, Labor Relations, Local business, saveyourzone

It is the decisive moment of the year for businesses with the arrival of ‘Black Friday’ and the Christmas celebrations. But here, too, 2020 is different: for many European businesses, whether they close the year better or worse over the coming weeks isn’t what’s at stake. What’s at stake, frankly, is their survival. If they do not perform well, they will shutter the windows forever, impoverishing the social and economic fabric of European cities.

International data transfers, on a tightrope. The EU must stand firm

European Association for Digital Transition Rights and freedom November 20, 2020June 9, 2021Court of Justice of the European Union, Data Protection, European Data Protection Board, USA

On November 11, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published some “Recommendations” – in two parts – in response to the Schrems II ruling of July 16, 2020. This extremely important decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidates the current international data transfers framework in the European Union and United States, considering that the rights of EU citizens are unprotected.

Digital Services Act: Google’s aggressive lobbying proves what’s at stake

European Association for Digital Transition Democratic quality October 30, 2020June 9, 2021Digital Services Act, European Commission, Google, Lobbying, Margrethe Vestager, Thierry Breton

The European Union has finalized a draft of its new Digital Services Act (DSA), which, according to all indications, will place restrictions on and control more closely the activity of large technology companies. There is even talk of forcing them to share their data with smaller companies and prohibiting them from applying any kind of preferential treatment for their products on their own platforms. All this is in the midst of a growing debate, also in the United States, about the excessive size and power of these companies and the possibility of forcing them to be split up to restore competition in the markets where they abuse their dominance.

False freelancers problem goes beyond the labour market

European Association for Digital Transition Rights and freedom October 20, 2020June 9, 2021Amazon, Fiscal policy, Labor Relations

Following a trade union complaint, the Labour Inspectorate of the Spanish government has just officially registered 4,056 delivery people who were working for Amazon as false freelancers in Madrid and Barcelona. In addition, it is demanding the U.S. company pay 6.16 million euros in unpaid contributions.

The European Recovery Plan and Digitalization: urgency mustn’t distract from the essentials

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future October 13, 2020June 9, 2021coronavirus, Digital sovereignty, European Recovery Plan

The serious discrepancies between the European Parliament and the Council, chaired this six-month period by Germany, confirm what was already felt: It will not be easy to implement the historic EU post-COVID reconstruction agreement, closed last July by the heads of government. This is bad news for everyone, but especially for the countries most in need of this shot of investment, such as Italy and Spain.

Beyond Bitcoin and Libra: The European Commission regulates the expansion of crypto assets

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future September 28, 2020June 9, 2021Cryptocurrencies, European Commission, Facebook, Monetary Policy

It’s been 12 years since Bitcoin was born, and with it the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies, digital assets not issued by any central authority and transacted through blockchain technology. In these 12 years, Bitcoin has experienced dramatic swings in value, becoming established as a high-risk speculative item – in the last 12 months it has been revalued by 20% – but not as a commonly used currency.