Yahoo! Nazi ruling sets nasty precedent

NEWS Under the current ecommerce directive, companies need only comply with the law of the country in which their website is based. However, the Brussels convention scheduled for debate on Thursday in the European Justice and Home Affairs Council could see companies having to comply with all the individual laws of the 15 member states - though US companies would still be exempt from complying. Ben Goodger, partner at Willoughby & Partners, claimed this means cases similar to Yahoo! could become a regular occurrence. He said: "The Yahoo! case presents a jurisdiction problem prevalent in internet trade and commerce. If Yahoo! UK had the case against them in the French courts they would have to honour the judgement. "The Brussels convention means any government in any country can say that if something on a site is bad for consumers the site can be sued under our laws. It completely contradicts the Ecommerce directive, acts as a bad incentive and with the Yahoo! case it is a taste of what Europe could look like." Mike Pullen, EU law specialist at DLA, agreed: "If this law is passed in its current form, EU companies would have to know the law and mandatory policies on issues such as racism or sales techniques in all 15 member states where their site can possibly be viewed. This means that if a US company is hit by any of the EU's laws, as in the Yahoo case, it can say get lost. But an EU country would have to comply automatically." Freedom of speech, protected in the US constitution, prevents a US court from upholding similar cases. The European Justice and Home Affairs Council is likely to pass the Brussels convention according to Pullen. He said: "The French, who have the EU presidency at the moment, will drive it through on Thursday. Pullen added: "Britain is too wimpish to veto it while Ireland and Luxembourg are worried they will get discriminated against. They are small countries so have to direct their activities to other countries and they worry they will get hammered by the law."