Do you have any citation for that ? It is completely contrary with what I know of EU tax law.
An EU citizen buying abroad is responsible for paying the VAT (usually to customs), not the merchant, and if it is 'downloadable' then VAT only applies if the merchant is european.
The law is active since July 2003. There were a lot of buzz among e-commerce companies and shareware developers about it.
The changes eliminate an existing competitive distortion by obliging non-EU suppliers to charge VAT as EU suppliers when they are providing electronic services to EU non taxable persons, something which EU businesses had been actively seeking for some time.
An EU citizen buying abroad is responsible for paying the VAT (usually to customs), not the merchant, and if it is 'downloadable' then VAT only applies if the merchant is european.