“Single Digital Market”: Europe and its historical origins on 2.0 version.

Reflecting on history, comes to mind that the European Union grew out of the idea of a “European Single Market”, which was crowned by the Treaties of Rome on 1958, instituting the “Common European Market”. In a not dissimilar way, today we are talking about “Single Digital Market”, as a reality capable to develop the free movement of digital goods and service and of goods and service on a digital way as well.

On May 6th, the European Commission presented a document on strategies for the completion of the Single Digital Market to the European Parliament, the Counsel, the Social and Economic Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

As known, digital information and communication are becoming increasingly important into the global population, which not only uses digital instruments in the exercise of its purchase powers, but also directs its consumption decisions to digital goods and services, fostered both by economic convenience and profitable contractual terms.

The purpose of the European Union is foremost to encourage these tendencies by the definition of supporting measures for structural investments in this field, aimed at ensuring interconnection and interoperability among the e-commerce technologies. These measures, beyond spreading across digital field, will allow to create European enterprises, as business models able to operate jointly in the several fields of production, within any sort of limit or national bond.

In order to achieve these results, it is necessary to act firstly in the regulatory level, ensuring an equal degree of protection for the consumer as well as standardising VAT regulations, so as to align VAT rates on digital goods and services.

The European Union has for a long time took note of these tendencies and, now, is ready to coordinate digital economy, starting from the above-mentioned premises, but only on condition that each member State can contribute to it: Italy said yes, enforcing its position as shown through the “Strategy for digital growth 2014-2020” and the “Italian Strategy for ultra-broadband”. By this way, an official document has been sent to the European Commission and further published on “Digital Agency for Italy” website, whereas the Italian State states the steps deemed as necessary to create the single digital market.

It is clear that the right of access to the network is the first issue to be processed, in so far as it is prodromic to the dynamism and productivity of the network. The ultra-broadband, as the instrument able to ensure a high-speed connection, should fall within the European concept of “universal service”, as meaning that the Member States should guarantee to the citizens a minimum broadband level in order to equalize the access to the network and neutralize the latter.

Once the access is ensured, network security and integrity should be ensured as well, in so far as they are fundamental topics in improving citizen’s confidence in the use of digital services. One of the most relevant obstacles in the optimal functioning of the single digital market is the idea on the basis of which on-line transactions are not safe, because it is feared that all the data transmitted during the transaction are illegally used. The Italian State hopes that the “Network & Information Security” (NIS) Directive will be approved without delay; nevertheless, in our opinion, transparency and safety are inescapable values that even precede the right of access: therefore the proper regulatory instrument should be the European Regulation, capable of imposing security protocols in a mandatory and direct way.

Business field deserves particular mention: in particular, the reference is made to high innovative start-up, in favour of which the European Union made available funds for financing. The importance of innovative and not-innovative start-up, in the single digital market context, is based on the idea of creating a digital manufacturing: enterprises should be supported by a coordinating system, inserting in which they could operate on the different stages of a unique production chain. On this purpose and in order to encourage such coordination, it would be necessary to reduce all the starting-up burdens (bureaucratic and not) on business as well as to align tax regulations, to be smarter. These are the steps that Italian State deems necessary to create an “innovation hub” on European level.

There was much talk about digital culture and education, believing that the use of digital resources is although undermined by knowledge deficits. Given this, Italian and Europe include digital literacy and specific skills among the aspects in which investments must be made to create a single digital market.

In other words, the purpose of the European Union is to achieve a 360-degree digital system, as a new universe in which operate and face with. Effectively, digital era is now and the web is the sole instrument capable of connect up remote realities, meanwhile creating new ones.

In conclusion, we cannot abstract ourselves from the idea that digitalization represents the main tool for allowing Europe to become the best place to invest in global market; at the same time, we have to consider that all the above supposes that market freedom is accompanied and based on the freedom of each economic operator, independently of the State of consignment or destination.