EU legislation hurting UK retailers

Legislation passed by the European Union is preventing U.K. retailers from opening stores in other EU countries, the British Retail Consortium recently reported.

According to the BRC, the European Union should encourage an open, single market for goods, services and capital, and stop creating regulations reinforcing national barriers to cross-border investments. The BRC reported that the U.K. is the largest destination for retail investment, accounting for a third of the entire total retail investment in the union for the first half of 2011. And despite the U.K. having only the third largest population in the union, it employs the most retail industry professionals.

U.K. e-commerce retailers looking to expand into other EU countries also face barriers. The BRC said the U.K. leads Europe in e-commerce with almost twice as much online retailing as the EU average. But various regulations have prevented e-commerce between member states to grow. Online retailers are required to comply with different consumer rights rules in each member state that they sell to, making it difficult to expand.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said that the key to retail success is export-led growth, and the U.K. shows clear economic and customer benefits as a result of an open market.

"We currently have the disadvantages of a costly regulation machine without the full access to 500 million customers that a proper single market would give," Robertson said.