Six months until the Geo-Blocking Regulation applies: we are prepared, are you?

Published

May 24 2018

Written By

Pauline Kuipers

Partner
Netherlands

I am a partner in our NL office, based in The Hague, where I was one of its founding lawyers in 2001.

Roelien van Neck

Partner
Netherlands

As a partner and head of our Commercial group in the Netherlands based in The Hague, I have significant expertise in technology law and digital business. I am also a member of our Tech & Comms Group.

Sectors

Retail and Consumer

Regions

As of 3 December 2018, the EU Geo-blocking Regulation will apply. The regulation is relevant for all traders offering their goods or services to EU end-users (B2C and B2B) in the EU, regardless of whether the trader is established in the EU or in a third country (i.e. a non-EU Member State).Traders established in third countries who are operating in the EU are in principle also subject to this Regulation. With six months to go, we outline the essentials of the Geo-Blocking Regulation and introduce our 6-step guide towards compliance.

What's the Geo-Blocking Regulation about?

The regulation addresses the problem of (potential) customers not being able to buy goods and services from traders located in a different Member State for reasons related to their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment. The Geo-Blocking Regulation prevents such unjustified geo-blocking and geo-discrimination by prohibiting, in short:

Blocking of access or automatically re-directing customers to another website;
Application of different general conditions of access to goods or services, and
Application of different conditions for payment transactions
Based on a customer's nationality, place of residence or place of establishment.

This in turn should lead to better access to goods and services for customers in the EU.

6-step guide towards compliance

There are a number of concrete steps to take. To help your organisation get to grips with this new and far-reaching legislation, Bird & Bird developed a comprehensive 6-step guide and a promotional video.

All information regarding the Geo-Blocking Regulation can be found on our hot topics page: twobirds.com/geo-blocking.

If you have any questions on the Geo-Blocking Regulation – and how you may be affected – please contact Pauline Kuipers, Roelien van Neck, Mariska van de Sanden (The Netherlands) or your local geo-blocking expert.