The Danish eMark. One of the motivations that Gert Birnbacher and I were driven by when we founded the Danish eBusiness Association way back in August 1997 was to facilitate self-regulation of eCommerce in Denmark. The Internet industry, the webshop owners and their customer – primarily the consumers – should come together and agree on a set of rules for how to conduct business on the Internet. I took a long time for this message get accepted. But finally all relevant actors and their organization worked out – after a long and tedious process with lots of political horsetrading – a common ground. This understanding has led to the formation of the Danish eCommerce Foundation at which board I serve (although it is my colleague at vonhaller law firm, Jan Trzaskowski who has being doing the board work the last many months). The Danish eCommerce Foundation has adopted a set of rules for commerce and marketing on the Internet. Those web-site that choose to comply with these rules are granted the right to place the eMark (which is the logo above. Disclaimer www.groenbaek.net has NOT been granted the right to carry the eMark) at their web-sites.

That start has not been easy for the Danish eCommerce foundation in particular because of very limited resources for marketing and operations. However, things are definitely beginning to look brighter. April 3. 2002 the Danish eCommerce foundation will host a conference on Consumer Protection and eCommerce. I will speak at the conference on self-regulation and eCommerce. I think that this conference will mark the coming of age of the Danish eCommerce Foundation and its effort to self-regulate Danish eCommerce. Hopefully so!