Activities of Anneleen VAN BOSSUYT related to 2016/0152(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment (debate) NL
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on addressing geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC PDF (1 MB) DOC (228 KB)
Amendments (22)
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a regulation
Title 1
Title 1
Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on addressing geo-blocking and other forms of unjustified discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC (Text with EEA relevance)
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) This Regulation aims at preventing unjustified discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment, including geo- blocking, in cross-border commercial transactions between traders and customers relating to the sales of goods and the provision of services within the Union. It seeks to address direct as well as indirect discrimination, thus also covering unjustified differences of treatment on the basis of other distinguishing criteria which lead to the same result as the application of criteria directly based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment. Such other criteria can be applied, in particular, on the basis of information indicating the physical location of customers, such as the IP address used when accessing an online interface, the address submitted for the delivery of goods, the choice language made or the Member State where the customer's payment instrument has been issued.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) Pursuant to Article 20 of Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council17 , Member States are to ensure that service providers established in the Union do not treat recipients of services differently on the basis of their nationality or place of residence. However, that provision has not been fully effective in combatting discrimination and it has not sufficiently reduced legal uncertainty, particularly because of the possibility to justify the differences in treatment for which it allows and the corresponding difficulties in enforcing it in practice. Moreover, geo-blocking and other forms of unjustified discrimination based on nationality, place of residence or place of establishment can also arise as a consequence of actions by traders established in third countries, which fall outside the scope of that Directive. __________________ 17 Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, p. 36).
Amendment 103 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) This Regulation aims at preventing unjustified discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment, including geo- blocking, in cross-border commercial transactions between traders and customers relating to the sales of goods and the provision of services within the Union. It seeks to address direct as well as indirect discrimination, thus also covering unjustified differences of treatment on the basis of other distinguishing criteria which lead to the same result as the application of criteria directly based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment. Such other criteria can be applied, in particular, on the basis of information indicating the physical location of customers, such as the IP address used when accessing an online interface, the address submitted for the delivery of goods, the choice language made or the Member State where the customer's payment instrument has been issued.
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Regulation seeks to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market by preventing discrimination based, directly or indirectly, on the nationality, place of residence or place of establishment of customers, and where such discrimination cannot be directly justified by objective criteria pursuant to Article 20(2) of Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 107 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. This Regulation applies to the following situations:cross-border commercial transactions and analogous situations in a Member State where the customer has a place of residence, place of establishment or nationality other than trader.
Amendment 119 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Considering that some regulatory and administrative barriers for traders have been removed across the Union in certain services sectors as a result of the implementation of Directive 2006/123/EC, in terms of material scope, consistency should be ensured between this Regulation and Directive 2006/123/EC. As a consequence, the provisions of this Regulation should apply inter alia to non- audio-visual electronically supplied services, the main feature of which is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, subject however to the specific exclusion provided for in Article 4 and the subsequent evaluation of that exclusion as provided for in Article 9. Audio-visual services, including services the main featur are as much cultural services as they are economic services. Their importance justifies the application of specific rules to these services. Therefore, audio-visual services, including services the principle purpose of which is the provision of access to broadcasts of sports events and which are provided on the basis of exclusive territorial licenses, are excluded from the scope of this Regulation. Access to retail financial services, including payment services, should therefore also be excluded, notwithstanding the provisions of this Regulation regarding non-discrimination in payments.
Amendment 153 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Both consumers and undertakings should be safeguarded from unjustified discrimination for reasons related to their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment when acting as customers for the purposes of this Regulation. However, that protection should not extend to customers purchasing a good or a service for resale, because it would affect widely used distribution schemes between undertakings in a business to business context, such as selective and exclusive distribution, which generally allow for manufacturers to select their retailers, subject to compliance with the rules on competition.
Amendment 169 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Certain traders operate different versions of their online interfaces, targeting customers from different Member States. While this should remain possible, redirecting a customer from one version of the online interface to another version without his or her explicit consent should be prohibited. AOnce the consumer has expressed a preference with regards to redirection it should be deemed valid for all subsequent visits of the same customer to the same online interface. However, all versions of the online interface should remain easily accessible to the customer at all times.
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) The second situation is where the trader provides electronically supplied services, other than services the main feature of which is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, such as cloud services, data warehousing services, website hosting and the provision of firewalls or the selling of copyright protected works and other protected subject matter in an intangible form such as e-books or online music. In this case, no physical delivery is required, as the services are being supplied electronically. The trader can declare and pay VAT in a simplified manner in accordance with the rules on VAT Mini-One-Stop-Shop (MOSS) set out in Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/201126 . __________________ 26 Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011 of 15 March 2011 laying down implementing measures for Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax (OJ L 77, 23.3.2011, p. 1).
Amendment 198 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) In all those situations, by virtue of the provisFurthermore, that prohibition should not be understood as affecting the application of any territorial or other limitations on the law applicable to contractual obligations and on jurisafter sale customer assistance or after-sales services offered by the trader to the customer. Nor should it be understood as entailing an obligation to cover any addiction set out in Regulations (EC) No 593/2008 and (EU) 1215/2012, where a trader does not pursue his activities in the Member State of the consumer or does not direct his activities there, or whereal costs of postage and transport beyond the contractually agreed place of delivery where the consumer picked up the good, where pursuant to Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a the trader is to provide for, free of charge, repair or replacement of a defective good or where the trader is to bear the cuostomer is not a consumer, compliance with this Regulation does not imply any additional of returning such a good following the exercise of the consumer's right of withdrawal pursuant to Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council1b. This Regulation should therefore not be understood as providing for an obligation to deliver goods crosts for the trader associs-border to another Member Stated with jurisdiction or differences in applicable law. Whhere the trader would not otherwise offer the possibility of such delivery to its customeres, in contrast, a trader does pursue his activities in the consumer'snor for an obligation to accept to take back goods in another Member State, or does direct his activities tbear additional costs in this regard, where, the trader has manifested its intention to establish commercial relations with consumers from that Member State and thus been able to take account of any such costswould otherwise not be under such an obligation. _______________ 1a Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees (OJ L 171, 7.7.1999, p. 12). 1bDirective 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 64).
Amendment 234 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 29
Recital 29
(29) This Regulation should be regularly evaluated, with a view to proposing amendments where necessary. The first evaluation should concentrate, in particular, on the possible extension of the prohibition of Article 4(1)(b) to electronically supplied services, the main feature of which is the provision of access to andor use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, provided that the trader has the requisite rights for the relevant territorior the selling of copyright protected works and other protected subject matter in an intangible form such as e-books and online music, provided that the trader has the requisite rights for the relevant territories. The evaluation should ensure consistency with the scope of Directive 2006/123/EC and take due account of the specificities of copyright-protected cultural goods and services.
Amendment 253 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. The purpose of this Regulation seekis to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market by preventing unjustified discrimination based, directly or indirectly, on the nationality, place of residence or place of establishment of customers and by defining situations where different treatment cannot be justified under Article 20(2) of Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 284 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. This Regulation shall not affect the rules applicable in the field of copyright and neighbouring rights, notably the rules provided for in Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. _______________ 1a Directive2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10).
Amendment 324 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Traders shall not, for reasons related to the nationality, place of residence or place of establishment of the customer, redirect customers to a version of their online interface that is different from the online interface which the customer origininitially sought to access, by virtue of its layout, use of language or other characteristics that make it specific to customers with a particular nationality, place of residence or place establishment, unless the customer gives his or her explicit consent prior totrader has provided the consumer with clear information concerning such redirection.
Amendment 331 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Article 3 – paragraph 3
3. The prohibitions set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply where the blocking, or limitation of access or redirection with respect to certain customconsumer's access to the trader's or to customers in certain territoriesnline interface or the redirection is necessary in order to ensurefor a trader to compliancey with a legal requirement in Union law or in the laws of Member States in accordance with Union law.
Amendment 337 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 4
Article 3 – paragraph 4
4. Where a trader blocks or limits access of customers to an online interface or redirects customers to a different version of the online interface in compliance with paragraph 4, the trader shall provide a clear justification. That justification shall be given in the language of the online interface that the customer originally sought to access. It can be provided in its general terms and conditions.
Amendment 358 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) where the trader provides electronically supplied services, other than services the main feature of which is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, or the selling of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter in an intangible form such as e- books and online music;
Amendment 405 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Amendment 413 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
In the case of situations where traders are bound by an agreement requiring them to restrict their passive sales in accordance with Article 101 TFEU and with Regulation (EU) No 330/2010, the prohibitions in Articles 3, 4 and 5 of this Regulation shall not apply.
Amendment 431 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 2
Article 9 – paragraph 2
2. The first evaluation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be carried out, in particular, with a view to assessing whether the prohibition of Article 4(1)(b) should also apply to electronically supplied services, the main feature of which is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, or the selling of copyright protected works or protected subject matter in an intangible form such as e- books and online music, provided that the trader has the requisite rights for the relevant territories.