Meeting on Thursday 12 September, the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) took stock of the implementation of European regulations on geo-blocking, calling for them to be revised to include the audiovisual sector, in particular.
“This is a subject that has been with us for a long time and is important to many European citizens”, said the committee Chair, Anna Cavazzini MEP (Greens/EFA, German).
The report presented by the Commission on the state of regulation indicates “good results”, particularly in the area of e-commerce, which has benefited from the removal of obstacles linked to the geographical location of consumers. While the indicators show an overall reduction in geo-blocking, there are still sectors that are not affected (health, telecoms, audiovisual and transport).
For MEPs, it is precisely the issue of the audiovisual sector that is important: “We are seeing a slight improvement in the sector, but it is not enough”, insisted Anna Stürgkh (Renew Europe, Austrian). “Hence my question: are we only at the evaluation stage or is the Commission really ready to take additional measures?”
Two of her colleagues, Ireland’s Luke Ming Flanagan (The Left) and Italy’s Pierfrancesco Maran (S&D) echoed her comments by raising the case of sporting events, for which broadcasting rates have exploded in recent years, and which, like films, are pirated to get around geographical blocking.
In response, the Commission pointed out that the various dialogues organised with stakeholders were intended to lead to concrete solutions, but that at this stage, nothing had yet been achieved. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)