23 Amendments of Marietje SCHAAKE related to 2016/0152(COD)
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a regulation
Title
Title
Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on addressing unjustified geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or temporary location, 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 96 #
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 discrimination based on nationality, place of residence or temporary location, 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 106 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) This Regulation aims at preventing 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 temporary location, 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 113 #
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 feature 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 where appropriate. Access to retail financial services, including payment services, should therefore also be excluded, notwithstanding the provisions of this Regulation regarding non-discrimination in payments. Or. en (see amendment to Article 1.3 and the scope of the Regulation)
Amendment 122 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Discrimination can also occur in relation to services in the field of transport, in particular with respect to the sales of tickets for the transport of passengers. However, in that regard Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council18 , Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council19 and Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council20 already contain broad prohibitions of discriminations covering all discriminatory practices that the present Regulation seeks to address. Furthermore, it is intended that Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council21 will be amended to that effect in near future. Therefore, and in order to ensure consistency with the scope of application of Directive 2006/123/EC, services in the field of transport should remain outside the scope of this Regulation. __________________ 18Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community (OJ L 293, 31.10.2008, p. 3). 19 Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 (OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, p. 1). 20Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 of the European Parliament, therefore the provisions of this Regulation should also apply to these services. Or. en (see amendment to Article 1.3 and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 1). 21 Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations (OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 14). scope of the Regulation)
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) In order to increase the possibility for customers to access information related to the sales of goods and the provision of services owithin the internal market and to increase transparency, including with respect to prices, traders but not limited to them, traders or any other parties acting on their behalf, including intermediaries, online marketplaces and operators of online interfaces for the purposes of access, should not, through the use of technological measures or otherwise, prevent customers from having full and equal access to online interfaces on the basis of their nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment. Such technological measures can encompassFull and equal access to online interfaces in the form of a mobile application includes the possibility for the customer to download and access any version of the mobile application a trader may operate in one or more Member States. Technological measures that prevent such access can encompass, but not be limited to, in particular, any technologies used to determine the physical location of the customer, including the tracking of that location by means of IP address, surfing history and/or patterns, GSM tracking or localisation, coordinates obtained through a global navigation satellite system or data related to a payment transaction. However, that prohibition of discrimination with respect to access to online interfaces should not be understood as creating an obligation for the trader to engage in commercial transactions with customers.
Amendment 173 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) In certain cases, blocking, limiting of access or redirection without the customer's consent to an alternative version of an online interface for reasons related to the customer's nationality, place or residence or temporary location, or place of establishment might be necessary in order to ensure compliance with a legal requirement in Union law or in the laws of Member States in accordance with Union law. Such laws can limit customers' access to certain goods or services, for instance by prohibiting the display of specific content in certain Member States. Traders should not be prevented from complying with such requirements and thus be able to block, limit the access or redirect certain customers or customers in certain territories to an online interface, insofar as that is necessary for that reason.
Amendment 177 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) In a number of specific situations, any differences in the treatment of customers through the application of general conditions of access, including outright refusals to sell goods or to provide services, for reasons related to the customers' nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment cannot be objectively justified. In those situations, all such discrimination should be prohibited and customers should consequently be entitled, under the specific conditions laid down in this Regulation, to engage in commercial transactions under the same conditions as a local customer and should have full and equal access to any of the different goods or services offered, irrespective of their nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment. Where necessary, a traders should therefore take measures to ensure compliance with that prohibition of discrimination if otherwise the customers concerned would be precluded from having such full and equal access. However, the prohibition applicable in those situations should not be understood as precluding traders from directing their activities at different Member States or certain groups of customers with targeted offers and differing terms andgeneral conditions of access, including through the setting-up of country-specific online interfaces which may include different prices.
Amendment 186 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) The first of those situations is where the trader sells goods and there is no cross-border delivery of those goods by or on behalf of the trader to the Member State where the customer reside goods are delivered to a Member State to which the trader offers delivery in his general conditions of access or are collected at a location agreed upon between the trader and the customer in a Member State in which the trader offers such option in his general conditions of access. In that situation the customer should be able to purchase goods, under exactly the same conditions, including price and conditions relating to the delivery of the goods, as similar customers who are residents of the Member State of the traderin which the goods are delivered or in which the goods are collected. That may mean that a foreign customer will have to pick up the good in that Member State, or in a different Member State to which the trader delivers or arrange, by their own private means, the cross-border delivery of the goods. In this situation, there is no need to register for value added tax ("VAT") in the Member State of the customer, nor arrange for the cross-border delivery of goods.
Amendment 189 #
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. In thisThe third situation covers services the main feature of which is the provision of access to and use of copyright protected works or other protected subject matter, provided that the trader has the required rights for the relevant territories (such as e-books, music, games and software). In these cases, 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 195 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) Finally, in the situation where the trader provides services and those services are received by the customer in the premises of or at a location chosen by the trader and different from the Member State of which the customer is a national or in which the customer has his or her place of residence or place of establishment, the application of different general conditions of access for reasons related to such criteria physical location, such as the premises of the trader or other specific location where the trader offer the provision of his or her services within the territory of a Member State where the trader operates, the application of different general conditions of access for reasons related to the nationality or the place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment of the customer, should not be justified either. Those situations concern, as the case may be, the provision ofprovision of services, different from electronically supplied services, such as hotel accommodation, sport events, car rental, and entry tickets to music festivals or leisure parks. In those situations, the trader does not have to register for VAT in another Member State nor arrange for cross-border delivery of goods.
Amendment 217 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) Under Union law, traders are in principle free to decide which means of payment they wish to accept, including payment brands. However, once this choice has been made, in view of the existing legal framework for payment services, there are no reasons for traders to discriminate customers within the Union by refusing certain commercial transactions, or by otherwise applying certain different conditions of payment in respect of those transactions, for reasons related to the nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment of the customer. In this particular context, such unjustified unequal treatment for reasons related to the location of the payment account, the place of establishment of the payment service provider or the place of issue of the payment instrument within the Union should be expressly prohibited as well. It should be further recalled that Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 already prohibits all payees, including traders, from requiring bank accounts to be located in a certain Member State for a payment in euro to be accepted.
Amendment 244 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 33
Recital 33
(33) In order to achieve the objective of effectively addressing direct and indirect discrimination based on the nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment of customers, it is appropriate to adopt a Regulation, which directly applies in all Member States. This is necessary in order to guarantee the uniform application of the non- discrimination rules across the Union and their entering into force at the same time. Only a Regulation ensures the degree of clarity, uniformity and legal certainty which is necessary in order to enable customers to fully benefit from those rules.
Amendment 248 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 34
Recital 34
(34) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the prevention of direct and indirect discrimination based on nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment of customers, including geo- blocking, in commercial transactions with traders within the Union, cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States, due to the cross-border nature of the problem and the insufficient clarity of the existing legal framework, but can rather, by reason of its scale and potential effect on trade in the internal market be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
Amendment 254 #
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, temporary location or place of establishment of customers and to further supplement Article 20 of Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 280 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 3
Article 1 – paragraph 3
3. This Regulation does not apply to the activities referred to in points (a) to (c), (e) and (f), and (h) to (l) of Article 2(2) of Directive 2006/123/EC.
Amendment 302 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) 'customer' means a consumer who, or an undertaking which, is a national of a Member State or has his or her place of residence or place of establishment in a Member State, and intends to purchase or purchases under general conditions of access a good or a service within the Union, other than for resnly for end use and excluding resale, rental, or transformation or processing on a commercial scale;
Amendment 311 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point f
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point f
(f) 'online interface' means any software, including a website or part of a website and applications, operated by or on behalf of a trader, which serves to give customers access to the trader's goods or services with a view to engaging in a commercial transaction with respect to those goods or services;
Amendment 317 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. TA traders and an online marketplace shall not, through the use of technological measures or otherwise, block or limit customers' access to their online interface for reasons related to the nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment of the customer.
Amendment 321 #
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 temporary location, or place of establishment of the customer, redirect customers to a version of their online interface that is different from the online interface to which the customer originallyfirst 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 temporary location, or place of establishment, unless the customer has givesn his or her explicit consent prior to such redirection.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
In the event of such redirection with the customer's explicit consent, the original version of the online interface to which the customer first sought access, shall remain easily accessible for that customer.
Amendment 348 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. TA traders shall not apply different general conditions of access to their goods or services, for reasons related to the nationality, place of residence or temporary location, or place of establishment of the customer, in the following situations: where the customer seeks to:
Amendment 364 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
(ba) receive 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 in respect of which the trader has the requisite rights for the relevant territories;