On March 22, 2018, the new EU rules against unjustified geo-blocking (Regulation (EU) 2018/302) entered into force and will be applicable starting December 3, 2018.
The Regulation aims at abolish discrimination based on nationality and residence. Sellers will have to stop denying access to websites from one Member States to the other, preventing purchases of residents of another Member State or asking to pay with a debit or credit card from a certain country.
EU citizens should finally be able to find the best deals online when buying goods and services across the EU.
Below some of the key features of the geo-blocking Regulation.
Access to online interfaces. The Regulation bans the blocking of access to websites and the re-routing without the customer’s prior consent. So, for example, if an Irish customer wants to access an online clothing shop’s Italian website, her explicit consent will be necessary in order to redirect her to the Irish version.
Access to goods or services. Customers from a different Member State shall have the same access to goods and services as local customers. In particular, the customer that buys from a website that doesn’t provide for delivery in the customer’s Member State is entitled to delivery in the Member State of the seller (in the same way as local customers) or to organize delivery herself to her home. Or if the sale of services is provided in a specific physical location, the foreign customer is entitled to equal treatment compared to the local one.
Likewise, when a customer wants to buy electronically supplied services (cloud services, data warehousing or website hosting) from a seller established in another Member State, the customer shall be able to purchase at the same way condition of the local customers.
Non-discrimination for reasons related to payment. While sellers remain free to accept whatever payment means they want, the Regulation includes a specific provision on non-discrimination within the range of means of payment they accept, for example because of the customer’s nationality, place of residence, the location of the payment account, or the place of establishment of the payment services provider.
Assistance and enforcement. Each Member State will designate bodies responsible for providing assistance to consumers in case of disputes arising from the application of the Regulation, as well as other bodies responsible for the adequate enforcement of the Regulation
Further details about the geo-blocking Regulation are available in the press release from November 2017, factsheet, Frequently Asked Questions and the guide on 10 most important features for companies to comply with the new rules. More information on cross-border parcel delivery can be found here.
Regulation (EU) 2018/302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 February 2018 on addressing unjustified geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers’ nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market and amending Regulations (EC) No 2006/2004 and (EU) 2017/2394 and Directive 2009/22/EC (Text with EEA relevance. ) is available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu…
For more information about how geo-blocking is implemented in Europe, contact Francesca Giannoni-Crystal & Federica Romanelli.
Originally published on Technethics on June 2018