EU anti Geo-blocking comes into force: unlocking e-commerce in the EU

Under the new rules, traders will not be able to discriminate between customers with regard to the general terms and conditions – including prices – in three cases: for goods that are either delivered in a member state to which the trader offers delivery or are collected at a location agreed with the customer for electronically supplied services such as cloud, data warehousing and website hosting for services such as hotel accommodation and car rental which are received by the customer in the country where the trader operates

Under the new rules, traders will not be able to discriminate between customers with regard to the general terms and conditions – including prices – in three cases:

• for goods that are either delivered in a member state to which the trader offers delivery or are collected at a location agreed with the customer
• for electronically supplied services such as cloud, data warehousing and website hosting
• for services such as hotel accommodation and car rental which are received by the customer in the country where the trader operates

Source: Geo-blocking: unlocking e-commerce in the EU – Consilium

Geo-blocking refers to practices used by online sellers that result in the denial of access to websites from other Member States. It also includes situations where access to a website is granted, but the customer from abroad is prevented from finalising the purchase or being asked to pay with a debit or credit card from a certain country. “Geo-discrimination” also takes place when buying goods and services off-line, e.g. when a consumer is physically present at the trader’s location but is either prevented from accessing a product or service or being offered different conditions.

The Geo-blocking Regulation aims to provide for more opportunities to consumers and businesses within the EU’s internal market. In particular, it 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, hence discriminating them when they try to access the best offers, prices or sales conditions compared to nationals or residents of the traders’ Member State.u

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/faq/geo-blocking

Above FAQ link has  more answers to questions

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