| Author (Corporate) | European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service |
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| Series Title | Briefing: EU Legislation in Progress |
| Series Details | February 2018 |
| Publication Date | February 2018 |
| Content Type | Journal | Series | Blog, Policy-making |
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‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings aim to provide Members of the European Parliament with systematic and automatic analysis on all substantial proposals for EU legislation at every stage of the legislative procedure. Each contains an account of the purpose, content and legal aspects of the legislation proposed, in particular analysing what the legislation would change, as well as any previous legislation and the background. An overview of stakeholders’ views is also provided, as well as the opinions of national parliaments and the two advisory committees. They are all made publicly available for stakeholders and the public.Geo-blocking practices commonly restrict cross-border sales of tangible goods as well as of electronically supplied services and electronically delivered content services in the EU. The European Commission proposed a regulation in 2016 which would prohibit traders from blocking access to their online interfaces to customers in another Member State or from automatically re-routing them to a different website for reasons related to the customers’ nationality, place of residence or place of establishment. Foreign customers should be offered the same terms and conditions as local customers. However, audiovisual services would not be covered, with the Commission proposing to address them under a forthcoming copyright reform. While the proposal was broadly welcomed, a number of specific issues were raised by stakeholders and scholars. In November 2017, after protracted negotiations, the co-legislators in trilogue agreed to ban some types of unjustified geo-blocking practices. However, the ban would not apply initially to content and services protected under copyright (for instance, e-books and downloads of music and audiovisual content). At the request of the European Parliament, a review clause was introduced which required the Commission to re-examine the situation two years after the entry into force of the regulation. The Council of the European Union endorsed the compromise text on 29 November 2017. The European Parliament was expected to vote on the proposal during the February 2018 (I) plenary session. Author: Tambiama Madiega |
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| Source Link | http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/586620/EPRS_BRI(2016)586620_EN.pdf |
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| Subject Categories | Business and Industry, Internal Markets |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
