You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcasts on the digital single market.

The EU single market is one of the greatest successes of European integration,

but switch from the physical to the online and you'll see the picture is not quite the same.

Fragmentation and barriers that do not exist in a physical single market are holding the EU back.

So it's time to make the EU's single market fit for the digital age.

Stay with us.

Internet and digital technologies are transforming our world and our lives. Today we buy clothes and groceries online, we plan our holidays, and even fall in love online.

But regulatory barriers mean citizens will mis-outen goods and services,

and online companies are seeing their ambitions limited, so it's time to unlock the potential of a true digital single market.

Recent estimates by the European Parliament suggest that moving from 28 national markets to a

single one could contribute €415 billion per year to our economy and create millions of new jobs.

It would also create opportunities for new startups, allow European firms to expand

the business and boost their global competitiveness while fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.

So is online the new El Dorado. Well, the sector is certainly performing well. According to the

European Commission, its growth rate is seven times that of the rest of the economy. And in the

10 years from 2001 to 2011, digitalisation accounted of the rest of the economy, and in the 10 years from 2001 to 2011,

digitalisation accounted for 30% of the EU's GDP growth.

Some experts also say that SMEs with an active website and using online marketing grow

four times faster than those without a web address.

Despite this, the potential of information and communication technologies as a driver of jobs

and growth is far from being fully exploited in the EU.

A quick comparison of EU and US figures will give us an idea of the scale of this untapped

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