Bitkom Position Paper on the proposed Regulation on Geo-blocking

The EU Commission made a legislative proposal for a regulation addressing Geo-blocking and other geographically-based restrictions in May 2016 as part of its Digital Single Market Strategy. Bitkom recognizes the need to harmonize rules in the EU market and unlock the potential of e-commerce. However, this goal should be reached by adequate means. The European Commission’s geo-blocking proposal disproportionately interferes with the freedom to conduct a business as guaranteed under Art. 16 EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Although we welcome certain aspects of the proposal such as the exclusion of copyright protected works of the scope, we oppose to a general ban of geo-blocking and are concerned by many provisions.

Our position paper is available for download here.