Against the backdrop of discount campaigns such as Black Week or Black Friday, the Federal Network Agency has called on consumers to report so-called geoblocking violations when making cross-border online purchases. Providers repeatedly refused to accept billing addresses and credit cards from another EU country, the authority reported on Friday. Versions of your online shop would also be blocked when accessed from other EU countries or delivery within your delivery area would be refused. The authority has made a complaint form available online.
“Be it Black Week, Black Friday or Cyber Monday – retailers must offer their products to both local and European customers at the same conditions, even during special promotions,” said authority President Klaus Müller.
According to the network agency, providers of goods and services in the EU internal market are not allowed to restrict access to their online shops and purchases based on the origin of their EU customers. Exceptions to the geoblocking regulation apply, for example, to streaming services or services in the financial, health or transport sectors.
For Black Week, this means that retailers can offer different special promotions and discounts in their various national online shops, provided that European consumers have non-discriminatory access to all of these offers, the authority said.
Not always the right to delivery to the place of residence
However, special features must be taken into account during delivery. Retailers are not obliged to deliver to the consumer’s place of residence in any case. However, they can demand delivery from retailers within their delivery areas and organize transport to the desired address themselves. This can be done by hiring logistics companies or specialized parcel forwarding services.
After a complaint, the network agency can enforce the regulations of the geoblocking regulation against providers in Germany. You can issue orders and impose fines. In the event of violations by traders from other European countries, the network agency calls on the national authority of the EU country concerned to take action. So far, after intervention by the network agency, the companies have remedied their violations of the geoblocking regulation in all cases. (dpa)