E-commerce – Image by Varun
(STRASBOURG) – The European Parliament ratified an agreement Tuesday to make it easier for consumers to buy from a website based in another EU country, without the obstacle of unjustified ‘geo-blocking’ practices.
The new rules will ban the ‘geo-blocking’ of buyers browsing websites in another EU country. This means they will be able to choose from which website they buy goods or services, without being blocked or automatically re-routed to another website due to their nationality, place of residence or even their temporary location.
Online buyers will have then have wider and easier cross-border access to products, hotel bookings, car rentals, music festivals or leisure park tickets in the EU.
A “mystery shopping” study carried out by the Commission showed that 63% of websites do not let shoppers buy from another EU country, according to findings of For tangible goods, geo-blocking was highest for electrical household appliances (86%), while for services it was for online reservations of offline leisure sector, such as sports event tickets (40%).
This is despite the fact that EU consumers show growing demand for cross-border online shopping. In the last ten years the share of Europeans buying online has almost doubled.
Under the new rules, traders will have to treat online shoppers from another EU country in the same way as local ones, i.e. grant them access to the same prices or sales conditions, when they:
- buy goods (e.g. household appliances, electronics, clothes) which are delivered to a member state to which the trader offers delivery in his general conditions, or are collected at a location agreed by both parties in an EU country in which the trader offers such option (traders would not have to deliver in all EU countries, but buyers should have the option to pick up the package in a place agreed with the trader),
- receive electronically supplied services not protected by copyright, such as cloud services, firewalls, data warehousing, website hosting, or
- buy a service which is supplied in the premises of the trader or in a physical location where the trader operates, e.g. hotel stays, sports events, car rentals, music festivals or leisure park tickets.
Treating shoppers differently based on the place of issuance of a credit or debit card will also be forbidden. While traders remain free to accept whatever payment means they want, they may not discriminate within a specific payment brand based on nationality.
For the time being, however, digital copyrighted content, such as e-books, downloadable music or online games, will not be covered by the new rules. But the Commission will have to assess within two years after the entry into force of the regulation whether the ban on geo-blocking should be widened to include such content, as well as audio-visual and transport services, which are also currently excluded.
The vote was welcomed by BEUC, the European consumers’ organisation. “Consumers will finally be able to compare prices and buy products throughout the EU. A consumer’s nationality or place of residence does not matter when shopping on the high street and the same should be true online,” said BEUC’s Director General Monique Goyens.
The agreement on the geo-blocking regulation now needs to be formally approved by EU Council. The new rules will apply nine months from the day of its publication in the EU Official Journal, i.e. before the end of this year (2018).
Further information, European Parliament
Addressing unjustified geo-blocking: the adopted text is available here
Statement by the Commission on the review clause (copyright protected works, audio-visual services)
