Consumers will profit from abolished geo-blocking but contractual freedom must be maintained

The Digital Single Market (DSM) has a great potential to contribute to economic growth of the EU but remains still fully unexploited. For this reason, one of the Juncker ́s main goals is to eliminate the barriers which prevent free movement of goods and services sold online.

One of the barriers to DSM is the geo-blocking which means discrimination on the ground of the geographic location that prevents consumers from their access to products available in other Member State. On 4th April in Prague, the representatives of EU institutions discussed with business and consumers representatives the advantages of abolishing the geo-blocking on the Internal Market and its impact on businesses. Although the geo-blocking is a significant problem preventing the use of the full potential of DSM, some specific examples show it will be difficult to find a suitable solution which would abolish all barriers and would not limit the rights of business.

The participants of the debate agreed that the Commission ́s proposal should be aimed at apparent cases when the consumers are discriminated, at better transparency and law enforcement by keeping the contractual freedom of businesses and a healthy level of regulation.