WHY IS MICROSOFT VIOLATING GEO BLOCKING by releaing games only in some EU regions when it...

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/geoblocking

Geo-blocking and other geographically-based restrictions undermine online shopping and cross-border sales. Regulation 2018/302 of 28 February 2018 will set an end to unjustified geoblocking. The Regulation will start applying as of 3 December 2018.

Geo-blocking and other geographically-based restrictions undermine online shopping and cross-border sales
by limiting the possibility for consumers and businesses to benefit from the advantages of online commerce. The problem equally affects consumers and businesses as end users of products and services and exists both in the online environment and in real-world
situations.

The regulation on geoblocking is part of a series of
new rules on e-commerce aimed at boosting cross border online sales in the EU, both for the benefit of the consumer, who will have more choice and more guarantees when buying, and for the online sellers.

What is geo-blocking?
Online sellers apply barriers and impose restrictions to consumers on the basis of their nationality or place of residence. Some examples are:

• blocking access to websites across borders;
• denying the possibility to complete an order, to purchase goods or to download content when accessing a website from abroad;
• denying delivery or shipment across border;
• providing different prices and conditions depending on nationality, country of residence or location of the customer.

There might be justified reasons for traders not to sell cross-border, such as the need to register at the tax authority in the country of destination, higher shipping costs or costs arising from the application of foreign consumer law. While outside barriers
create additional complications and extra costs for the trader, differences in the treatment of customers are based on objective criteria.

However, discrimination between EU customers based on the desire to segment markets along national borders, in order to increase profits to the detriment of foreign customers, is considered as unjustified geoblocking.

The regulation
The regulation on addressing unjustified geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market defines three specific situations when there can be no justified
reasons for geo-blocking or other discriminations based on nationality, residence or location:

• The sale of goods without physical delivery. Example: A Belgian customer wishes to buy a refrigerator and finds the best deal on a German website. The customer will be entitled to order the product and collect it at the trader's premises
  or organise delivery himself to his home.
• The sale of electronically supplied services. Example: A Bulgarian consumer wishes to buy hosting services for her website from a Spanish company. She will now have access to the service, can register and buy this service without having
  to pay additional fees compared to a Spanish consumer.
• The sale of services provided in a specific physical location. Example: An Italian family visits a French theme park and wishes to take advantage of a family discount on the price of the entry tickets. The discounted price will be available
  for the Italian family.

This
regulation was part of an e-commerce package together with a legislative proposal on cross-border parcel delivery services and a legislative proposal to strengthen enforcement of consumers' rights.

Other elements of the regulation
Furthermore, the proposal bans blocking of access to websites and the use of automatic re-routing if the customer has not given prior consent.

The regulation also provides for a non-discrimination rule in payments. While traders remain free to offer whatever payment means they want, the regulation includes a specific provision on non-discrimination within those payment means.

The regulation does not impose an obligation to sell and does not harmonise prices. It does however address discrimination in access to goods and services in cases where it cannot be objectively justified (e.g. by VAT obligations or different legal requirements).

Timeline of the regulation
The Regulation entered into force on 22nd March 2018 and applies from 3rd December 2018, nine months after the

publication of the Regulation in the EU Official Journal, to allow in particular small traders to adapt.

For better understanding of the regulation, the Commission issued a
detailed Questions & Answers document and a

MEMO.

Within two years after the entry into force of the new rules, the Commission will carry out a first evaluation of their impact on the internal market. The Commission will also include in its evaluation an assessment of the scope of the Regulation, including
of the possible application of the new rules to certain electronically supplied services which offer copyright-protected content such as music, e-books, software and online games, as well as of services in sectors such as transport and audio-visual.

Useful links

• Press release - Joint statement by Vice-President Ansip, Commissioners Bieńkowska and Gabriel following the European
  Parliament's vote to end unjustified geoblocking
• Regulation (EU) 2018/302 on addressing unjustified geo-blocking
  and other forms of discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market
• Questions and answers (available in the following languages: BG,
  
  CS,
  DA,
  DE,
  EL,
  EN,
  ES,
  ET,
  FI,
  FR,
  HR,
  HU,
  IT,
  LT,
  LV,
  MT,
  NL,
  PL,
  PT,
  RO,
  SK,
  SL,
  SV) and
  Factsheet related to Regulation 2018/302
• 10 key features of Regulation 2018/302

Implementation of Geoblocking by Member States

Implementation of Geoblocking by Member States

Click on one of the Member States displayed in the map to see the state of play of implementation of the Geoblocking regulation in that country.

[Mod Removed - multiple images/broken links]

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