Trust and Confidence in European Union

From European Commission.

Measures to increase trust and confidence of consumers in the Information Society
(22/09/2005) Consumer protection in the online area is a wide field. The study needs to show to what extent trust-related issues keep users out of the information society today. A clear definition of the covered field based on existing consumer protection regulation and definitions will be necessary in the study. The study will have to focus on issues of consumer protection as well as how they specifically affect trust in and willingness to use information society services. Trust is a notion that can encompass a number of factors such as confidence, awareness, identity protection, security, privacy etc, including subjective apprehension as well as practical experience of various situations.

Measures to increase trust and confidence of consumers in the Information Society

Reference: B-Brussels: measures to increase trust and confidence of consumers in the information society - Official Journal

Text from Tender Specifications " A STUDY ON MEASURES TO INCREASE TRUST AND CONFIDENCE OF CONSUMERS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY"

" Consumer protection in the online area is a wide field. A clear definition of the covered field based on existing consumer protection regulation and definitions will be necessary in the study. The study will have to focus on issues of consumer protection as well as how they specifically affect trust in and willingness to use information society services.

There are several specific areas of possible consumer concern that already present themselves for inclusion in the study, like protecting privacy online, reliability and liability of purchased products and product packages, language and usability problems as well as effects of spyware, spam and other forms of malware. There are reasons to believe some of these issues will have considerable effects on the real use of purchased products, and hence a mapping of actual effects on consumers’ ability and willingness to use computer and online products and services is needed. An example issue would be how a specific issue like spyware affects the ability to use a computer, how it affects the users’ trust, and what are the liabilities and protections involved when a user is rendered unable to use services due to such infections. A study of the areas which cause consumer problems, not limited to, but including the above, will be included in the study. Specific areas covered by other initiatives, like eAccessibility for groups with special needs and protection of minors, will be outside the scope of this study.

Trust is a notion that can encompass a number of factors such as confidence, awareness, identity protection, security, privacy etc, including subjective apprehension as well as practical experience of various situations. The lack of trust can also be seen as a barrier for e-inclusion in that it will keep users from participation, empowerment and involvement which is necessary for e-inclusion. The study needs to show to what extent trust-related issues keep users out of the information society today. In order to do this it will also be necessary for the study to clarify what is meant by trust in this context – a clear definition for the purposes of this study will be necessary.

User for the purposes of this study should cover consumers.
There are a number of surveys showing what kind of problems consumers have encountered when shopping online. To a large extent these problems are the same as the ones consumers encounter when purchasing through traditional channels, i.e. non-delivery and defective products, but also on-line payments give rise to complaints.[1] In the on-line environment, however, the same issues might have greater implications than in the traditional commerce environment, due to the special features of the internet (e.g. anonymity of the responsible people behind various services, physical distance, varying legislation and languages etc). There is a need to know to what extent these problems keep people from using not only on line services but also IT-products in general.

[1] E.g. Special Eurobarometer 60.0, European Union public opinion on issues relating to business to consumer e-commerce, March 2004 and European Consumer Centre Network; The European Online Marketplace; consumer complaints."