In Europe small and medium sized online sellers have to comply with a number of EU pieces of legislation that are often burdensome, especially when selling cross-border. In order to improve the regulatory environment and facilitate the way small and medium enterprises do business in Europe, the European Commission is seeking input on which pieces of legislation are the most problematic. eBay Inc. will be participating in this process on behalf of its customers, but we encourage you to do so as well.

Jeff Clementz, Vice President of PayPal Australia was one of 40 CEO’s and attendees across Australia to participate in the Prime Minister’s Digital Economy Forum on October 5, 2012.

The Forum focused on how Australia can maintain an edge in the growing digital economy, improve Australia’s competitiveness and productivity, and build on the Government’s National Digital Economy Strategy and Productivity Agenda.

The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce visits the eBay campus

Foreground Pictured (L to R) The Right Honourable Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Faraz Ahmed, General Manager, PayPal Southeast Asia and India

Ben Franklin (left) and Brent Thomas (right) touring the PayPal Shopping Showcase

This week, we participated in the European Development Days in Brussels, Belgium to continue the conversation about how technology-enabled commerce can help spark more inclusive economic growth, particularly in developing countries. As with other recent events and discussions (many of which we’ve shared here on eBay Main Street), we presented eBay Inc.’s recent Commerce 3.0 research and policy roadmap.

Even in their core area of business, companies are tapping into external sources of ideas and capabilities - open innovation  – in a quest for more and the right expertise. The European Commission is in pursuit of something similar but in the area of policymaking, going beyond traditional consultations.

eBay launched an important campaign earlier this year based on economic research and a policy roadmap. Why? Because we see how the Internet and new technologies combined with commerce can bridge the online and physical worlds and connect the local and global opportunities. We call this transformation Commerce 3.0, and it is a powerful force for long-term, inclusive economic growth. Indeed, our research has proven what eBay Inc.

Below is an exercpt from a guest post by Sassoon Grigorian, Head of Government Relations for eBay Australia, on the Australian government's digitalbusiness.gov.au website:

Shopping is turning on its head.