The Annual European E-Commerce Conference returned to Brussels for its 11th edition

The 11th edition of the European E-commerce conference took place on 23 May, organised by Forum Europe in partnership with Amazon, Ecommerce Europe and Eurocommerce. 

The conference was attended by 165 delegates in person with registrations coming from over 20 countries. Attendees included stakeholders from government, industry, and civil society who had the opportunity to engage in discussions, share insights, and network with peers from a range of sectors.

Through keynote speeches, panel discussions and interactive sessions the conference sought to provide a platform for policymakers to exchange best practices and lessons learned in the development and implementation of e-commerce policies and regulations across Europe.

We were delighted to welcome Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, to open this year’s conference with a video contribution. Followed by high-level keynote sessions from Eva Faict, Country Manager for Belgium at Amazon and Alexia Bertrand, Secretary of State for Budget and Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Justice, Belgium.

Discussing the New Consumer Agenda and analysing the existing EU consumer laws to ensure they are fit for the digital age were Blanca Rodriguez Galindo, Acting Director, Unit B2.2, DG JUST, European Commission, Luca Cassetti, Secretary General of Ecommerce Europe, Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General of BEUC, James Waterworth, Director, EU Public Policy at Amazon along with Moderator and Journalist Filip Van den Abeele in a panel discussion. 

Highlights of the afternoon included two detailed panel discussions. One of which addressed European SMEs online and the digital single market to facilitate SME cross-border trade. Participants of this session included Amaryllis Verhoeven, Head of Unit, Digital Transformation of Industry at European Commission, DG GROW, Stefan Moritz, Secretary General of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME, Stephan Tromp, Managing Director of IFS Management GmbH (IFS) and Deputy Chief Executive of the German Retail Association (HDE) and Kostas Rossoglou, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs, EMEA & International at Shopify. 

Exploring sustainability and e-commerce in the last panel was Karen Ghysels, Director at EEC NET Belgium, Leendert Jan de Olde, Director of Ecodesign & Sustainability at Philips, Pierre Hausemer, Managing Director at VVA Group, Juliette Beaulaton, Public Affairs Advisor at Ecommerce Europe, and Dustin Wisotzky, Partner at Oliver Wyman followed by closing remarks from the moderator, Filip Van den Abeele.

We were delighted to be joined by EURACTIV who are creating a post-event video focusing on the policy discussed at this event. Keep an eye out for the speaker interviews and the event highlights video, and view a selection of event photos on the event website.

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