Brussels progresses in geo-blocking, bans restrictions on some online purchases

Brussels steps forward to get rid of geo-blocking. Buying tickets online, booking a hotel room or renting a car on the internet will be free of geographical restrictions around the whole European Union. That implies that the price for these operations will be the same in all countries from the communitarian area.

For the time being, articles protected by copyrights such as electronic books, music or videogames, as well as audiovisual articles and transport, will still be affected by geographical restrictions. All that range of products will still be held to the will of online platforms distributing them, which are still allowed to apply different tariffs.

The goal of this new regulation is to make sure that all online clients have the same conditions as local ones. “No seller in the European Union will be allowed to say that he refuses to sell us a product because of our nationality or place of residence”, has claimed the Polish Eurodeputy Roza Thun, the dossier manager at the European Parliament.

The erase of commercial geo-blocking has been on Brussels’ radar since 2015

The geographic blocking is mainly latent for the purchase of household appliances, whereas regarding services, what is severely affected is the sector of leisure, as indicated by the European Union.

The ban on geo-blocking is a proposal that has been on Brussels’ radar ever since 2015, year in which they were starting to create a unique digital market which would facilitate trade through the web in all twenty-eight State members.

In 2016, the European Commission presented three legislative proposals involving this topic: that consumers were not discriminated by price, access or payment condition due to their nationality or place of residence; a greater transparency on prices and the self-regulation of postal players.