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January 27, 2003

Rules & Regs: E-Commerce Barriers

The Wall Street Journal reports when it comes to selling caskets, wine and contact lenses over the internet, "All are at the forefront of a growing conflict between e-commerce and state authority -- a conflict that is being fought in the courts, Congress and federal regulatory agencies. As the Internet makes it easier to transact business across state lines, laws that regulate the sale of goods and services are increasingly coming under attack for erecting barriers to online interstate commerce. At issue: whether states are protecting consumers or merely protecting the economic interests of bricks-and-mortar companies within their borders."

In Is More Government Regulation Needed to Promote E-commerce?, Robert Hahn and Anne Layne-Farrar write, “The e-commerce marketplace is evolving rapidly. E-commerce sales, though still a small fraction of total retail sales, are growing at a much faster rate. There is a very real danger that federal regulation of a market that is changing rapidly, such as e-commerce, could impose net costs on consumers.”

Also of interest from the Joint Center:

Taming the Consumer's Computer by Jonathan L. Zittrain

New Rules For The Digital Economy by Robert W. Hahn