Samenvatting

The following research was carried out as a graduation project and done on behalf of The European eCommerce and Omni-Channel Trade Association(EMOTA). EMOTA is a lobbying firm that works to promote eCommerce in the European Union by helping policy makers eradicate trade barriers.
The main research question is as follows “What could be the impact of the currently proposed ePrivacy Regulation that will regulate the use of cookies by webshops, on the businesses of EMOTA members?”
The aim of the research is to find ways to mitigate any negative impact the looming regulation will have on the members of EMOTA. To accomplish
this, some sub-topics were subject to an examination:
Firstly, it had to be determined the parties involved in the process of the regulation. These include the institutions who will draft the legislation and the people who will be affected by it. A desk research was carried out and qualitative research in the form of interviews with staff members who following the legislative process of the ePrivacy regulation closely. The main insititutions responsible for drafting the legislation were the European Commission,
the European Parliament and the European Council. Those most likely to be affected by the regulation were online businesses, Consumers and indirectly EMOTA.
Secondly, since the aim of the ePrivacy was to limit the access of data such as cookies by webshops, it was necessary to find out how much the members of EMOTA rely on cookies to boost their businesses. This part of the research relied mostly on interviews as well as previous surveys conducted recently by EMOTA. The survey was done due to the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation also known as the GDPR. A similar legislation focused on data regulation that also had implications for the members of EMOTA.
Lastly, the role of EMOTA In the implementation process and aftermath of the regulation was examined.
The staff members were interviewed on what role EMOTA would play in order to weaken the effect of the regulation on its members.
Overall the research shed further light into the importance of data not only for EMOTA members but for eCommerce in general. Recommendations were also suggested to EMOTA based on the results of the research. These recommendations contain both possible steps EMOTA could take to ensure
a more favourable outcome of the regulation and ideas to help its members deal with an unfavourable outcome.