European ministers will do their best to reach a common position on unfair geo-blocking at the Competitiveness Council on Monday 28 November. At its meeting on Friday 18 November, the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (Coreper) confirmed that this point would be on the agenda.
It should be pointed out that the draft regulation presented on 25 May requires traders to ensure that their goods and services are accessible to consumers in all EU member states, without discrimination in terms of access to prices, sales or payment conditions. Nonetheless, the regulation only requires the traders to supply their products in the country in which they are established.
The Slovak Presidency is expected to draw up a final compromise position this week (see EUROPE 11665).
The Coreper meeting highlighted the two final problems that required resolution: 1) the question of what law should apply and 2) interaction between competition rules.
On the former, the compromise is expected to explain that the new rules do not constitute exceptions to the Rome 1 and Brussels 1 regulations, according to which the law and jurisdiction of the consumer apply. It should, however, be noted that the simple fact that a trader respects the new rules does not necessarily imply a “directed sale”. In other words, it is not because the trader is not discriminatory against consumers from other member states that the trader question is necessarily seeking to address these consumers.
On the latter question, some member states, such as Italy, would like to scrap the article on competition rules, whilst other countries, including France, with Commission support, consider that this only requires clarification. The new rules must take into consideration certain situations that could contravene the principle of competition, such as, for example, agreements that have been reached between a trader and a distributor that restricts sales to certain member states.
The text will require the support of a qualified majority of member states on 28 November. Certain countries may vote against it in principle, on the grounds of one of the questions mentioned above or due to specific sections relating to their own respective markets. The Presidency is expected to organise bilateral meetings this week to obtain their support. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)