Digital Single Market completion leads to extra EUR 260 billion per year

A completed Digital Single Market could play a major role in eliminating these costs: If the Digital Single Market is fully functional, this would add EUR 260 billion per year to the European economy. A completed Single Market for Consumers and Citizens would add another EUR235 billion per year. Most of these revenues will come from increased cross-border ecommerce.

A more complete Digital Single Market could raise the long-run level of EU 28 GDP by at least 4%. Ecommerce Europe has been advocating an integrated approach by European policy makers in order to complete the Digital Single Market as soon as possible to unlock the potential of online cross-border trade.

The report by the European Parliament underlines Ecommerce Europe’s call for an integrated approach by pointing out the same serious impediments blocking cross-border ecommerce: e-privacy, e-payments, VAT issues, consumer protection, data protection, and e-logistics.

Part of the one-stop-shop approach Ecommerce Europe advocates is completing the Single Market for Consumers and Citizens (the “classical” Single Market) in order to stimulate free flow of goods and services. The European Parliament has accounted that lack of consumer trust due to non-completion of the Single Market costs EUR 58 billion per year. Comprehensive implementation of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) for cross-border transfers could add another 0.9% to EU GDP. If all remaining barriers to trade in the EU were fully eliminated, the level of EU GDP could be as much as 14% higher in the long run.