The European Union has taken another step towards the cross-border portability of online content. On Wednesday 15 February, the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (Coreper) endorsed the compromise previously obtained by negotiators (see EUROPE 11721). It is now up to the Parliament and Council as a whole to give their approval for the text’s adoption.
The regulation will enable Europeans to fully benefit from their online service subscriptions to watch films, sporting fixtures, read e-books, play videogames or listen to music when they are travelling within the EU. The internal version of the text EUROPE has been able to access makes it incumbent on the service provider to check the residency of the user on the basis of a list of 10 different criteria: electronic means of identification, payment details, the place of installation of a set top box, other service contracts, registration on electoral rolls, public tax details, postal address, utility bill or the declarations of the subscriber confirming their address or IP address. In practice, providers will have to optimise use of two of these criteria unless one is sufficient and they will have to inform the users of their choice.
With regard to definitions, the regulation explains that the member state of residency implies that the subscriber has an “affective and stable” residency in this member state. In the context of a “temporary presence” in another member state, the regulation explains that there is no time limit and that this reference only implies the presence of the user in a member state other than their state of residency for a limited period of time.
The compromise stipulates that new rules will apply from the beginning of 2018, including contracts concluded before this period. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)