On 3 December 2018, Regulation (EU) 2018/302, better known as the Geo-blocking Regulation, entered into force. This development is a part of the European Commission’s digital single market strategy to ban unjustified geo-blocking, which restricts the consumers’ ability to access a website, complete a purchase, being rerouted to a country specific website, or refused delivery or payment because of their location.
Geo-blocking occurs when a consumer wants to browse products or services on a trader’s website, but is denied access. This can include the practice of rerouting to a country specific version which may display different products or prices. Even when consumers can access their preferred site, they may be prevented from finalising the purchase or are required to pay by debit or credit card from a particular country. Geo-blocking Regulation now prevents this behaviour by prohibiting the practice of automatically rerouting consumers to country specific websites and banning unjustified discrimination in relation to payment methods. In fact, only few days following the Regulation’s entry into force, the European Commission fined Guess €40 million for anticompetitive agreements to block cross-border sales.
Nevertheless, although EU-based traders will no longer be permitted to refuse to sell to consumers based on their nationality or place of residence, the new rules do not require such traders to offer delivery of the goods to consumers who live in a different country. Certain goods and services are excluded from the scope of the Regulation, including transport services, retail financial services and healthcare service. Importantly, the Regulation does not cover the provision of (non-audiovisual) copyright protected content services (such as e-books, online music, software and videogames). Audio-visual services also do not fall within the scope of the Regulation.
This webpage, provided by the European Commission, explains in a concise way how online sellers can ensure their services are compatible with the new rules and provides examples of best practices.