Consumers will lose out.

When preparing the proposal, the European Commission explicitly excluded copyright-protected content from the public consultation. This was done for good reason. For copyright-protected content, banning geo-blocking practices risks causing a reduction in the diversity of offerings in many creative sectors – the opposite of what we all want to achieve. It would curtail the freedom of services to adapt terms and offerings to local market conditions, and would put pressure on services to unify prices upwards. Creative works have different cultural and economic values within the various EU Member States. Extending the scope of the geo-blocking Regulation to copyright works would remove the ability to adapt to the varied purchasing powers of different consumers within the EU.

As a result, consumers would have to pay more, as prices would align with the spending power of the more affluent consumer markets in the EU.

Extending the scope of the Geo-blocking Regulation to copyright content puts the range and diversity of legal offer at risk, with inevitable negative economic consequences for the sectors in question, and for European audiences. If realised – this would run entirely contrary to the EU’s long history of measures to promote cultural diversity, as well as the DSM objectives of achieving jobs and economic growth.

One example is e-books. The offer of this product to consumers across borders would drastically decrease, if the legislation were to be imposed. Booksellers make their own investment decisions based on the basis of potential profitability, based on facts, figures and – above all – market trends.