European Commission has proposed the new rules regarding e-commerce in European Union on 25th May. The purpose of this rule is to outlaw the practice of Geoblocking.
What is Geoblocking
Price disparities are seen in many countries of the Europe. Many online retailers use Geoblocking for preventing online shoppers to jump the borders for taking such advantage. The practice is also used to limit the access of customers on the basis of their location. By doing this practice online retailers are able to recharge more prices in different countries. This is because of existence of greater price disparity even within European Union countries.
The new rule will not only benefit the online shoppers but it will increase the credibility on e-commerce websites. This is because abiding by the law will make such online outlets more trust worthy. At present the areas to which these rules are applied are limited. There is no legal clarity whether such rules are applicable to amusement parks and online recreational services providers or not. It is expected that new set of rules will be proposed to establish more legal clarity.
Reason for taking this Initiative
Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Gunther H. Oettinger narrated in a statement that he was much confident of the latest approach of European Commission. This was because it was taking due account for all the sectors. Such steps would simply increase the online shopping and develop e-commerce across the countries of European Union. The Geoblocking initiative was simply aimed at striking the balance between online businesses and consumer interests. It was a matter of bringing more legality to e-commerce.
Audiovisual wing of European Union takes care of online video streaming services. A different set of rules was proposed by European Commission in this regard, on the same day.