The Geo-blocking Regulation was adopted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 2 March, and will take effect in nine months, more precisely in December 2018.
With these new rules, the Commission aims to tackle discrimination of end-users on the basis of their nationality or place of residence by suppliers of (online) cross-border goods and services.
To ensure that businesses and consumers grasp the full extent of this new Regulation and to facilitate compliance, the Commission published last week a summary of the 10 Key features of the Geo-blocking Regulation and an extensive Q&A.
This informative document covers the main questions businesses from all sectors will have to deal with to ensure that they are compliant with the new rules before the end of the year. It includes questions ranging from the scope of the regulation, to practical issues such as access to online interfaces and payments.
In addition to this extensive guidance on the application of the Regulation, the European Commission is also taking into consideration the impact that Brexit will have on the EU legislation on Geo-blocking, with the recently published Notice to Stakeholder, which outlines the consequences of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU on consumers and traders in the event these issues are not covered by a potential withdrawal agreement.
