GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF THE e-COMMERCE...

Internal Market Information System

GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF THE e-COMMERCE WORKFLOW

IN IMI

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Contents

I. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 3

II. e-COMMERCE WORKFLOW ........................................................................................................ 3

1) CREATION of a request ................................................................................................................ 6

2) REPLY to a request ..................................................................................................................... 10

3) CLOSURE of a request ................................................................................................................ 10

4) CREATION of a notification ........................................................................................................ 11

5) BROADCAST ............................................................................................................................... 16

6) MODIFICATION after broadcast ................................................................................................ 16

7) DISSEMINATION ........................................................................................................................ 16

8) WITHDRAWAL ........................................................................................................................... 17

9) COMMENTING ........................................................................................................................... 17

10) CLOSURE ................................................................................................................................ 18

III. SEARCH NOTIFICATIONS ........................................................................................................... 19

IV. PRINTING NOTIFICATIONS ........................................................................................................ 20

V. MACHINE TRANSLATION .......................................................................................................... 20

VI. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND HELP ...................................................................................... 20

Annex I. Workflow status of e-Commerce Notifications ................................................................. 21

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I. BACKGROUND

The IMI e-Commerce Directive (ECD) workflow is used, by the Member State to which an information society service is provided (“Host Member State”), for:

requesting the Member State of establishment (“Home Member State”) of the service provider to take specific measures (first indent of Article 3(4)(b)) (first step); and

notifying the Commission and the Home Member State , when the preceding request was partially or totally rejected, that specific measures have been or will be taken (second indent of Article 3(4)(b)) (second step); or

notifying the Commission and the Home Member State that specific measures have been or will be taken, without any preceding request, following the urgent procedure (Article 3(5)).

II. e-COMMERCE WORKFLOW

The e-Commerce Directive workflow follows two possible procedures:

1. Normal procedure, as in Art. 3(4)b

2. Urgent procedure, as in Art. 3(5)

In the Normal procedure, there are two main steps:

Step 1: the Host Member State creates and sends a request to ask the Home Member State

to take specific measures;

Step 2: if the measures requested are not taken by the home Member State, or the ones

taken are deemed insufficient by the host Member State, than a notification of measures

taken (or to be taken) by the Host Member State is created and sent to the Commission and

the Home Member State.

In the Urgent procedure, no request to take measures is sent by the Host Member State to the Home

Member State. Under the conditions provided in art. 3(5), the Host MS takes the necessary measures

and informs the Commission and the Home Member State via a notification.

The actual handling of the procedures in each Member State also depends on the role played by the

competent authorities and their organization (centralized or decentralized structure).

The following diagrams summarize the possible scenarios.

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Art 3(5) Urgent procedure – IMI Notification with Coordinators and CAs

MSRe-Commerce Coordinator

MSRe-Commerce Coordinator

European CommissionDG MARKT

European CommissionDG MARKT

MSEe-Commerce Coordinator

MSEe-Commerce Coordinator

MSECompetent Authority

MSECompetent Authority

MSRCompetent Authority

MSRCompetent Authority

Broadcast

Broadcast

Disseminate

Submit

Feedback on compatibility

Notification measures to take

Notification measures to take

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1) CREATION of a request

In order to create a request to a Home Member State to take specific measures go to 'Menu –

Requests - Create'

In case you have request handler's rights for other legislative areas, you may need to choose the

legislative area first. Then run a search for an authority via the available button.

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Click on the appropriate authority and click on the button 'select'

Once the recipient authority is selected, back on the request screen, the system will display the

details of the authority.

Note that in several Member States the authority search will

return only one result. This is always the case when a country

identified an incoming "post-box" for all e-Commerce requests.

These post-boxes will ensure that incoming requests are

forwarded to the right authority. In other countries you may

find multiple authorities working in the area of e-commerce. If

you are uncertain which one should be the recipient of the

request, select an IMI Coordinator as a recipient.

To move in the information request, always use the 'Next step' and 'Previous step' buttons located

at the bottom of the page.

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On the tab 'Request details', you can indicate a possible date for reply. Fill in the appropriate fields.

Next to several free text fields you will see small selection boxes

with the language codes. Make sure that the selected codes in the

boxes always correspond to the language in which you have

entered your text! Note that the same applies to the comments

and messages you may add later on to your request.

In the 'Question selection' part, first you need to click the tick box on the left in order to be able to

select the measures to be taken against the company.

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You are also advised to add attachment or comments in order to provide the requested authority

with as much information as possible. It is recommended to add any attachments in PDF format.

Once your request is saved as draft you can either edit or send it to the other Member State. The

request number is available in the top left corner.

Please note that there is no need to translate the free text fields

during the creation of a request. The 'Translate' button is to be

used by the recipient of your message.

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2) REPLY to a request

In order to reply to a received request to take specific measures as a Home Member State of the

information society service provider, you can click on the link in the e-mail or you can see all the

requests with an action to take in your 'Requests - Action list'.

Personal data are not visible unless you accept the request.

If you are not responsible for the request and depending on the national structure, you may need to

forward the request to the correct authority within your Member State. Use the appropriate buttons

at the bottom of the page.

Please note that in exceptional cases if your Member State is not the correct recipient, you need to

refuse the request. The host Member State will have to copy the request and send it to the correct

Member State.

Please note that in order to be able to send a reply to the requesting authority, you need to answer

all the questions (in the 'answer' or 'answer comment' box). You are also advised to add attachments

or comments especially if the request was not positively re-solved or was positively addressed only

partially.

3) CLOSURE of a request

When you receive a reply but you need additional information, you can request it via the button at

the bottom of the page.

Once you are satisfied with the reply of the responding authority, whether or not the requested

measures will be taken, you need to close the request by clicking the 'Accept reply' button.

"Request for additional information" should be used only for clarification. To request additional

measures a new request should be created and sent in IMI.

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"Accept reply" in IMI does not mean you agree with the content of the reply received. It is a technical

step you need to take to close the first part of the procedure, even if you would like to proceed to

take measures and send a notification.

4) CREATION of a notification

A notification is created by a user with 'Handler' rights.

Fill in the appropriate fields – for guidance consult the InfoPoints . Click on 'Next' to proceed

from tab to tab.

In case of 'Normal procedure', in order to attach the IMI report of the

preceding request for specific measures, you first need to generate

it from the IMI system and save it on your local PC or network

storage.

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Open the request and click on at the

bottom of the page. Select the report type in PDF and

click on 'Create report'.

Please note that your report will be generated and will become available under

the menu option .

For more information, please consult the guide:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/docs/create_report.pdf.

When filling in a free text field, do not forget to indicate the language in which you enter the

comment. By default the session language is selected.

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/docs/create_report.pdf

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The system does not automatically save the data filled in. In order to save the encoded data, please

click on the button.

To finish the process, depending on the national structure, the notification may need to be submitted

to a Coordinating authority for approval and broadcast to the Commission and the Home Member

State.

You always have to submit your notification for approval, even if you are a user in a Coordinating

authority and you also have 'Approver' rights. Should this be the case, the buttons for further actions

will appear when the notification view is refreshed.

Once the notification is approved, it is broadcast to the European Commission and the Home

Member State.

Please note that after submission, the initiating authority can withdraw the notification at any

moment (before the automatic closure).

In order to save time when sending many similar notifications,

you can create a template version of a notification with the

common fields filled in. Keep it in the ‘draft’ status and use the

copy function every time you need to notify a new piece of

legislation.

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In the ‘Management Information’ tab, you will find the number of the notification, its status as well

as other information concerning its processing within IMI.

5) BROADCAST

Once the notification is prepared it needs to be approved and sent to the European Commission and

the Home Member State. In IMI this action is called ‘Broadcast’ and is

performed by a user with 'Approver' rights in the Notification Coordinator.

There are other options available to coordinators before broadcasting a notification:

6) MODIFICATION after broadcast

Once a notification is broadcast, the initiating authority can only change the contact details. This

change can be done within the first three month of the commenting period.

If you wish to change anything else, you need to withdraw the notification and create a new one

using the 'Copy' button.

7) DISSEMINATION

The broadcast notification is sent to the European Commission and the Home Member State, where

it is received by all the authorities with a 'Notification Coordinator' role. Depending on the national

set-up in your country, you may want to forward the notification to other authorities. In IMI this

action is called 'dissemination'.

It is the role of the Coordinator to the incoming notifications to the relevant

authorities within his/her Member State.

Each time a notification is broadcast in IMI, Notification Coordinators receive an automatic e-mail

with a link to the notification.

Your own

notification

only

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8) WITHDRAWAL

The Initiating authority can withdraw its notification at any time before the notification is closed. This

might be necessary because the factual situation which triggered the notification changed

significantly and this entails a re-assessment of the justification of the proposed, or even taken,

measure(s).

A withdrawal might as well be necessary in order to modify the content of the notification after

broadcast and before closure. When withdrawing a notification the user needs to justify the action

which does not require the approval of a Notification coordinator. All the recipients of the

notification are informed by an automatic e-mail about the withdrawal. Withdrawn notifications can

be copied, which is useful if after introducing changes, the Initiating authority wants to re-send the

notification.

9) COMMENTING

Once a notification has been broadcast, the Commission has to provide its comments within

3 months, otherwise agreement to the proposed, or even taken, measure(s) is assumed1. The Home

Member State has also a period of 3 months in which it can comment.

1 This is without prejudice of the right of the Commission to take any measure within its competence if it would

be determined after the 3 months period that the EU law was breached by the measures taken based on the

“tacit agreement”.

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In order to view an attachment, click on the relevant row in the list. This will activate the

button.

When adding a comment, select the relevant ‘type’ from the dropdown list.

Please note that the comments

do not need to be approved by the Coordinator

are immediately visible to the recipients of the notification

cannot be edited

can be deleted by their author (i.e. by users of the authority which

added the comment

If a comment is added or deleted all recipients are informed by e-mail.

10) CLOSURE

Three months after broadcast, at the end of the commenting period the notification will be

automatically closed in IMI.

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III. SEARCH NOTIFICATIONS

Use the search option to find a notification.

Basic search criteria are presented, to refine your search further, click on 'Notification criteria'.

Please note that you can adapt the results table to your needs by clicking on the first line. The results

can be exported as an Excel file by clicking on the 'Export' button. You will find the file in the 'My

reports' menu option.

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For more information, please consult http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-

net/docs/create_report.pdf.

IV. PRINTING NOTIFICATIONS

Via the button you can print the details of the notification. For more information, please

consult the training material about Reports in IMI http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-

net/docs/create_report.pdf.

V. MACHINE TRANSLATION

Information provided as free text can be translated via a machine translation service. For information

about machine translation in IMI, please consult the following manual

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/docs/machine_translation.pdf. Please refer to the

‘Registers’ part of the manual.

VI. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND HELP

You can contact your National IMI Helpdesk

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/imi_helpdesks/index.html





http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/docs/machine_translation.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/imi-net/imi_helpdesks/index.html


Annex I. Workflow status of e-Commerce Notifications

MAIN STATUSES

1. Draft

The initiating authority can still Edit it (i.e. fully modify the notification). Eventually it can

Delete the draft or Submit it for approval

2. Awaiting approval

The Initiating Authority can only withdraw the notification. The Initiating Coordinator can

Edit (i.e. fully modify the notification), Reject or Approve and Broadcast the Notification

3. Open for comments

The initiating authority can withdraw the notification. The Notification Coordinators can

'Disseminate' the notification to other authorities. All the recipients, including the EC, can

comment on the Notification or add attachments to it. The commenting period is 3 months

long in the real system and is set to 15 days in the Training Database.

5. Closed

The notification is closed and commenting is no longer possible. The Initiating authority has

the possibility to Copy the notification in order to create a new one.

ADDITIONAL STATUSES

A) Rejected

If in status 2 the initiating coordinator does not approve the notification, it gets this status.

B) Withdrawn

If in status 2, 3 or 4 the initiating authority decides to withdraw its notification, it gets this

status

C) Broadcast to MS on-going

This is an intermediate technical status, in which the completeness of the notification is

checked.

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