Challenges to Competition of Geographic Restrictions to Online Sales of Goods and Digital Content

Аннотация

When European consumers wish to make an online purchase from a business located in a Member State of the European Union other than their home country, they are often offered higher prices or less favorable terms than those enjoyed by local consumers. This situation should change after the adoption by the Council of the European Union on February 27, 2018 of the Regulation on the prohibition of “geo-blocking” practices. Once this law enters into force in December this year, online traders will have to serve foreign consumers “the same as the locals”. From buying Swedish furniture on an Italian website to renting a car for their next holidays, EU consumers will not have to pay higher prices, be offered different conditions or have their credit card refused because they live in another EU member state. This law is just one of the 16 measures initiated by the Commission as part of its Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe aiming at removing restrictions to competition imposed by suppliers on selling goods and digital content to customers located in another member state. Other key measures include harmonized European Union rules on contracts for the supply of digital content and for online sales of goods, cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws, efficient and affordable cross-border parcel delivery, simplified VAT rules, copyright modernization and assessment of the role of online platforms and intermediaries. A fully functioning digital single market has the potential to contribute on the order of EUR 415 billion per year to European GDP.