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~ Wijnand Jongen ~

COLUMN

THE GEO-BLOCKING REGULATION - A BARRIER FOR
SOME, A THORN FOR OTHERS, BUT A POLITICAL
TRAMPOLINE FOR A PRIVILEGED FEW

rom geo-blocking to geo-enabling Changes are brewing on the horizon
Back in 2018, the Geo-blocking Regulation came into Now, with the European Parliament’s mandate nearing
Feffect. The European Commission’s aim was to put an its end, the members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
end to the unjustified discrimination faced by EU consumers decided to share their perspectives (link to be added later) on
in some circumstances. The Commission (EC) proposed this the implementation of the Regulation. Many of the European
law to create more opportunities for trade between consumers Parliament’s committees are proposing to expand the scope of
and businesses, preventing unjustified treatment of consumers the Regulation to include audiovisual (AV) services. As part
based on their nationality or residency when they try to avail of the 2025 evaluation, the Commission had already planned
offers, prices, or sales conditions in another Member State. to examine the possibility of eliminating the exception
provided to AV services. This means potentially allowing
Ecommerce Europe was an active player in the political copyrighted works to be accessible across all EU countries.
debate that shaped the new law. We generally supported the Several MEPs view this change as essential to prevent
principle of “shopping like a local,” which the Geo-blocking discrimination against EU citizens, as copyrighted works
Regulation introduced, however, not at any cost. Traders’ right should not be limited to certain regions. Ecommerce Europe
of freedom to contract was and still is, for us, a principle that mostly focused its action in the past years on the online sales
must always be safeguarded. That is because there can be valid of goods and partially on services, but never on copyrighted
reasons for traders not to sell and deliver to specific markets. content as such.
That might be because it is too complicated or too expensive,
which could prove to lead to close to zero profit, if not losses. In addition, MEPs are requesting further examination of
certain aspects related to e-commerce players. Specifically,
Fast forward to November 2020, the Commission assessed they want the Commission to amend the legal text to
the Regulation’s impact and found that the percentage of force traders to ease access and operations of cross-border
geo-blocking delivery services.
obstacles decreased “THE FREEDOM TO DECIDE WHICH Also, some MEPs
from 26.9% to want to introduce
14%. However, the MEMBER STATE(S) TO TARGET IS A an obligation for
full effects of the operators offering
law could not be FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF SELLERS, services in all, or
accurately measured at least most, EU
at that point since countries, to enable
the Regulation AND WE FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT IT courier operators
works hand in hand to deliver parcels
with the revision SHOULD BE MAINTAINED IN CASE THE collectively to EU
of VAT rules in countries. We should
e-commerce and the EU DECIDES TO REOPEN THE LAW.” remember here that,
harmonisation of for the moment, the
consumer protection Regulation does not
rules, which took effect in July 2021 and 2022, respectively. oblige online traders to deliver physical goods to Member
Despite this, the EC considered the overall results as positive. States that they do not target. The freedom to decide which
Member State(s) to target is a fundamental right of sellers,
Yet, the Commission’s assessment also identified some and we firmly believe that it should be maintained in case
persisting issues in cross-border e-commerce. For example, the EU decides to reopen the law. We can already see from
some traders are hesitant to offer cross-border delivery the discussions in the European Parliament that some MEPs
options, but also payment location requirements and seem eager to change this principle and potentially oblige
administrative obstacles regarding VAT registration. a small online seller based in Malta to deliver a fridge to

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