Online traders, consumers in Europe to benefit from Reding’s optional EU sales law plan

European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding on Thursday weathered the downpour in Brussels to announce a gift worth more than 26 billion euro to celebrate next year’s 20th anniversary of the European single market: a single European law that will make it much easier to provide cross-border services in all of the 27 countries that are a member of the union. Reding: ” The present of Europe’s justice commissioner is set to make crossborder business much easier for small and medium-sized services companies that want to reach out to the entire European market, instead of the 2 countries that an average European SME targets at the moment. It’s also a boon to big internet names such as eBay and Apple. Apple now runs more than 27 different versions of its Itunes store in Europe; under Reding’s proposal, it could opt to create one single iTunes story for all of Europe. Reding: As a vice president of the Commission, Reding is in a position to table new EU legislation and to present that to the European parliament and the national governments. She made her announcement at the 2011 Innovation Summit, organized by the Lisbon Council. Reding: Reding said the initial reactions from EU member states are promising. Consumer and business groups are enthusiastic. If all goes smoothly, this optional common sales law for Europe could be reality as early as 2013. Ray Frenken. EUX.tv.